


Mystery Hours

by Exquisiteliltart



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Girl Penis, Sex Magic, Swan Queen - Freeform, magic baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-03-30 13:11:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3938071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exquisiteliltart/pseuds/Exquisiteliltart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Evil Queen takes Emma back to her bed chamber instead of throwing her in the dungeon. The consequences in the past affect the present in unexpected ways.  Non-con, G!P, magic baby, set end of season 3, start of season 4</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Take this insubordinate woman to the dungeon. Quickly!" Regina commanded her black knights as she dragged her eyes down Emma's glamoured form once more. "Halt! I've changed my mind. Take her to my bedchamber."

"Regina, please don't do this! Let me go!" Emma fought uselessly as she was hauled away into the unknown. As she passed by the Queen she saw her flick her wrist and a cloud of magic encompassed her senses.

When Emma came to she was laying naked upon a soft animal skin with her legs and arms bound to the bedposts. She shook her head to regain her wits and lift the magical fog that had knocked her out. Her vision was blurry and swam before her as the image of the Queen slowly came into focus.

"So glad you could join me," Regina's voice echoed seductively in the quiet chamber. The only light came from a large candelabra near the bed. Emma began to struggle and test the bonds on her wrists and ankles. They were tight, and her body was already stretched out to the max. "Tell me now. I will only ask once. Who disguised your true appearance with magic?"

"Regina, I-I…why the hell am I naked?" Emma's face scrunched in pain as the leather at her wrists scraped and cut into her sensitive flesh the more she pulled in vain attempt to free herself. She realized she was helpless and at the mercy of the Queen.

"Your state of undress should be the least of your concerns," Regina circled the bed, staring at her in the most unnerving manner. "I had your garment removed so I can better see who you really are. Now, I can sense the magic cloaking you, and I'm about to remove it. Painfully."

"Hey, there's no need for torture. Untie me and I'll tell you whatever you want to know," Emma felt desperate. She was truly vulnerable and in the worst situation she could have imagined. Regina continued to stare at her furiously until she felt a searing pain beginning at the top of her head. It felt like her scalp was being ripped clean away. "Stop!"

"I gave you plenty of chances," Regina slid a leather clad knee onto the bed and sneered at her. The painful ripping sensation of the glamour being removed started again and Emma gasped in pain. "Who disguised you?"

"Gold…Rumplestiltskin…whoever. Just stop!" Emma shrieked. Her instinct was to grab her head, but all she could do was ball her fists and grit her teeth as her body went rigid on the bed.

Regina waved her hand and the glamour was removed. Emma could tell she was truly bare before the Queen, and showing her true face. Regina's expression softened, her eyebrow arched and she extended her gloved finger to trail lightly over Emma's stomach and down her thigh. She was smooth, calculated and precise with her motions. Emma could only lie helplessly and watch in worry.

"You're very beautiful. Too beautiful to be working for him," Regina mused, her eyes had fallen to Emma's face and the possessiveness and wildness she saw in the Queen's dark eyes chilled her to the bone. "I think I'd like to have you. What do you say, dear? Will you have me? Or do you dare to refuse your Queen?"

"That's a lot of questions…." Emma licked her lips and outright smirked at Regina. She may be tied, but she was rapidly realizing she wasn't helpless. Evil Queen Regina still retained some of the characteristics of the Regina she knew in the future. For one, Emma could tell that she was excited. She enjoyed control, but she also enjoyed a challenge.

"What do you want from me? Clearly, I can't go anywhere like this," Emma pulled on her bindings just to punctuate her point. "If you were to untie me…I could show you exactly what I'm capable of."

"Silence," Regina appeared slightly unnerved by Emma's audacity to question her. It was surprising that Emma had ceased to show fear. "I'm not going to untie you, Princess. No matter how you tempt me."

She heaved a sigh and realized her throat was dry. The air was cool in the drafty chamber and she felt her nipples harden further as air wafted over her skin. She swallowed thickly and watched carefully as Regina magicked away her own heavy dress in the blink of an eye.

"I will attempt to even things out, just a tad, but make no mistake. You won't have the upper hand here." The Queen stood before her just as exposed, her body trembled slightly. Emma could sense her arousal. Her eyes were hooded and her pupils lust blown.

"What are you thinking about?" Emma asked in a calm and low tone. "Do you want to feel me, my Queen? Do you want to know if I'm wet for you? Or would you prefer that I'm not?"

Regina's breath became more labored and shallow with each of Emma's questions. Her hair cascaded in a thick mane down her back, and as she walked away to a drawer on the far side of the room, Emma craned her neck in attempt to see her back side. Then she slammed herself back on the bed, as she felt the hot flush of shame swim through her veins.

The realization dawned on her as sudden and swift as a slap to the face. It was the cold that made her nipples hard and ache to be sucked. It was her damned lust for Regina. It was ridiculous and a great cosmic irony and Emma was paranoid enough to entertain the thought that Rumplestiltskin had planned this very kind of situation at the beginning of time.

When Regina walked back across the room she was holding something strappy and leathery looking in one hand and in the other she held a slender vial containing a black liquid. Regina presented the strap on to her with a seedy smile as if she was offering nothing more than appetizers on a tray at a cocktail party.

This Regina didn't know who Emma really was, and Emma squeezed her eyes shut because she couldn't slam her own thighs together. It was maddening being immobilized and she hated that she was curious and in want of this woman before her. Part of her, the more carefree side told her to go with the flow, and enjoy the Queen's splendid torture as it could very well be her last night to live and if she was going down she might as well go out with a bang.

The more logical side of her brain told her to try and reason with Regina. The fear that any tiny thing altered in the past could drastically effect the future loomed in her mind. She didn't get a chance for that, because she watched stunned and silent in equal parts horror and enthrallment as Regina strapped the leather cock around her thighs.

"Do you like this? The finest leather worker in the kingdom crafted it especially to fit my needs, just as he makes the highest quality saddles for my precious steeds," Regina sounded all too proud of her cock. She stroked it lovingly and Emma couldn't help feel her core pulse in response to the obscene sight of Regina with the bulbous leather dildo jutting from between her thighs.

"I'm going to claim you, my dear. I'm going to fuck you so hard; you'll feel all the power that I command…"

Emma tuned out Regina's lengthy narcissistic monologue, and all she could focus on was the fact that the Evil Queen was crawling slowly over her, settling herself between her legs like she belonged there. She still held the glass with the mystery liquid in it. Emma doubted it was a shot of rum for courage, although she could have used one herself right about then. That dildo looked enormous from her vantage point.

Regina was rubbing it softly over her mound, mimicking the motion of fucking as if she was warming up. She was clearly getting more turned on by the visual. "Just get it over with," Emma couldn't take it. She hated that she wanted to touch Regina. She wanted to feel her skin, kiss her and make love with her. She'd fantasized about taking Regina like this, but never about being the one on the receiving end. More recently, her fantasies had become more emotional and intimate. She wanted to see Regina: the vulnerable and sweet side of the woman.

This was not her Regina. It was troubling.

"What's in your glass?" Emma's eyes were wide, she was turned on, but not like she wanted to be. She felt painfully aware, and self-conscious of every movement. There was too much fear in this to let herself be lost in it. The Queen seemed to thrive on her fear.

"This is for me," Regina answered with cryptic whimsy. "And for you, I suppose. Am I the first woman you've lain with?"

"Um…huh, lain? Is that what we're calling this?" Emma felt tense and sickened by the way her body was betraying her feelings as Regina rubbed the tip of the baby soft leather up and down through her folds. It came away from her darkened by her juices. The Queen leaned over her, all the while smiling, stroking Emma's curls, twisting the strands around her fingers. "I don't want this to be displeasing to you."

"Then untie me," Emma insisted, trying to keep the urgency out of her trembling voice.

Regina inspected the raw redness forming on Emma's right wrist. "I wish I could, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun for me. You're going to take every inch of me inside this nice cunt of yours. Don't be afraid to scream."

Without further prompting, Regina resettled herself between Emma's legs, and downed the potion in one long gulp. She seemed to relax as she breathed out, and pushed into Emma. "Oh."

As soon as she felt Regina enter her, Emma knew what the potion was. The dildo was no longer made of leather, but had transformed into a real cock. It was warm, and hard and inside her. Regina was fucking her. At first she was just testing her out with short, quick, shallow strokes: drawing herself in and pulling outs.

It wasn't uncomfortable… Emma didn't really let herself feel it. She was in shock over the whole magical/real dick that Regina was rocking. Then Regina pulled out suddenly, and scrambled over Emma's body to push the cock to her lips. "Suck me."

She kept her eyes open as the cock pressed into her open mouth. She licked the head slowly and wrapped her lips around it, never blinking. Regina closed her eyes in pleasure, moaning and physically relaxing into the wet hot feeling of Emma's mouth surrounding her.

"I've never used this spell before…there hasn't been anyone I desired enough to use it with. Until now," Regina looked down at Emma with a fondness in her voice, watching her reaction as she tentatively pushed inside her mouth a little deeper. She became a little more breathless and the tight control she tried to maintain over the situation as slipping.

Regina drew herself out of Emma's mouth, her hand flying out to steady herself by gripping Emma's bicep. She shuddered hard and grabbed her dick, stroking it firmly. She scrambled back down Emma's body, and in a magic instant Emma's bindings and position changed.

She was now upright. Her legs wrapped around the Queen's waist, and her were hands securely fastened together behind her back. Without further prelude, Regina pushed up and into her, thrusting hard, gauging Emma's expression. Emma couldn't help, but lose herself in the moment. Her back was sweaty from the exertion of fucking Regina. They fit together naturally and easily, and Emma felt embarrassed and dirty even as her body tightened with tension for her impending orgasm. She held her breath for a moment, grinding down harder, slamming her pussy onto Regina's cock mindlessly.

She even announced her orgasm as it started to unravel her body, "I'm cumming…oh fuck, you're making me cum, your Majesty."

At that moment Emma felt herself regain full use of her magic, or maybe she had stolen some of Regina's.

The Queen couldn't last a moment longer, she pumped her seed into Emma's cunt with abandon, and they both fell onto the bed, bodies still conjoined until Regina made a sound of regret and pulled out of her. She kissed her sweetly and curled up around her under the fur pelt to rest. Emma waited until she was sure that Regina had dozed off. With curiosity she pulled back the covers and noted that the cock had disappeared from between her legs.

She concentrated all her effort on her magic and was able to teleport away from Regina's bed and back into the forest.

Emma and Hook jumped back through the portal and back to the future. They hauled Marian into Granny's and reunited with everyone. Regina avoided Emma, turning away the minute she walked through the door. Her past memories now included their night together, and she had no clue what to say. She did everything in her power to avoid Emma, but the woman kept chasing her around Storybrooke, and begging her to talk.

She avoided Emma for six weeks. Emma finally cornered her in the vault. Her eyes were shining and watery, and had a goofy dazed smile on her face. Even as Regina burned in her own discomfort and shame she found Emma's demeanor odd and curious.

"Why are you interrupting me?" Regina twitched nervously, and smoothed the sleeves on her blazer.

"We need to talk. We have to now," Emma was resolute.

"I think we've done a fine job of not talking and I fail to see the urgency," Regina did her best to dismiss Emma, but she knew the woman had come to say her piece. "If you want me to apologize for something that my former self did—," Regina started before Emma interrupted her.

"Regina, I'm pregnant."

"What?" Her voice softened. "I mean congratulations."

Regina's mind was racing. Henry was to have a sibling. She ground her back teeth together thinking about Hook and Emma conceiving a child together.

"I should be saying congratulations to you," Emma nearly whispered.

"Whatever for?" Regina barked. She crossed her arms over her chest and flattened her chin to her neck.

"Look, I don't know what the hell circumstance of magic, high tides, super moons, man part potions, combined with time travel aligned with me ovulating, but you're the baby's other mother," Emma spoke as if she couldn't believe it.

"Me? That's impossible…that spell was temporary and I—I…" Regina remembered the force of her orgasm with Emma, and she had most definitely cum inside her. "I didn't think something like that could happen."

"Well, it did. I'm knocked up. If you don't believe me, I suppose we can go on Maury Povich and get a DNA test," Emma quipped. She was feeling scared as hell and she'd only just found out about the pregnancy so it was all new and strange. She already had one child with Regina. It seemed suited that she'd have another.

"We're going to have a baby…" the color drained from Regina's face and spots formed before her eyes. She started crying in a strangely delighted way, completely overcome with emotion.

The consequences of the past were about to seriously alter her future.

"Yep."


	2. Chapter 2

Regina fidgeted and paced, "Are you sure you don't need anything else? A warm blanket perhaps?"

Emma smelled the cup of tea that Regina had just handed to her, and recoiled at the grassy stench of it, "What is this?"

"Tea for two, it is caffeine free, all herbal, and good for mother and baby," Regina replied instantly as wrung her now unoccupied hands together and stared at Emma in a way that unsettled her. Regina looked far too dreamy and hopeful, and Emma hated being taken care of. "Drink up."

Regina raised her hand as if it would prompt Emma to lift the cup to her lips and swallow down the foul liquid.

Instead Emma placed the cup onto the coffee table and raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Regina had actually went out and bought baby tea? She planted her elbow on the arm of Regina's office loveseat to make herself comfortable. "You wanted to talk…so what do you want to talk about?"

The cavalier tone of Emma's voice caused Regina to narrow her eyes. The news that she was essentially the father of Emma's unborn child—a baby that she did not choose to conceive- had really done a number on the woman's head. She was excited, nervous and mainly feeling guilty.

"Emma, I was wondering who else knows about our—our… baby," she whispered the word as if the walls had ears. She scrunched her shoulders up and her back tightened in trepidation. She had thought of nothing else since Emma had revealed the result of their Enchanted Forest past copulation a week prior.

"No one but you, me, and little Grayson," Emma patted her flat belly and smirked up at her.

"Grayson?" Regina blinked in puzzlement. She dared let her eyes flick down to Emma's stomach as if she could look hard enough and see the baby.

"Relax, the name isn't finalized. I don't even know the sex yet…but I've been trying out a few different names just to see how they sound."

"We could call her Gracie," Emma added with a wink. She was keeping up the bravado and the attitude because she didn't want to think about the reality of the situation. She was due to have her first OB appointment soon, and was sorely tempted to travel outside of Storybrooke so no one would know. Also, she didn't trust do-it-all Doctor Whale anywhere near her lady parts.

Did Storybrooke even have an ultra sound machine? It wasn't like there were that many new births in the town to warrant the need for one. Fairytale people probably had different methods for ensuring the health of their babies besides the use of modern medicine. Doctor Whale would probably tell her to go cut the head off a chicken or something for all she knew.

Emma knew she was prolonging the inevitable. People would start to notice she was pregnant sooner or later. She had blown up like a balloon when she was pregnant with Henry and she expected if she spent enough time around her mother she'd be able to tell sooner or later. Snow White was known for her sensitivity and intuition after all.

When Emma's attention drifted back to Regina's face she noticed the sickly pallor her skin seemed to be tinged with. "Regina, are you okay?"

"I think I need to sit down," Regina literally buckled down next to her and leaned back into the loveseat. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

"You don't look well," Emma placed a cool palm on Regina's forehead to test her temperature even though they both knew that her ill feelings had nothing to do with a physical fever. Regina winced at the touch, surprised that the blonde would touch her without regard after what she'd—well; her former self- had done to her. The way she had violated her made her feel sick and every time she thought about the growing innocent baby she wanted to retch.

But she was also obscenely excited about it in a way that made her heart race and nostalgia for Henry's infancy come racing back in the form of tiny booties and the smell of clean baby magic lotion.

"Look, I know it's kind of a hard pill to swallow, but Regina you don't have to be embarrassed about what we did. We don't have to talk about it," Emma added, shaking her head with wide eyes. She really didn't want to talk about that. "We…just have to deal with the consequences in the here and now."

Regina breathed a small sigh of relief. She knew they would have to talk about what happened at one point or another, but at the present moment they had to figure out some important details. With a burst of courage Regina finally asked what had been troubling her most.

Trying to not sound jealous or frightened, which was a challenging feat even for someone like her, who practiced hiding her emotions behind thick stone walls, she stated, rather than asked, "It might be easier for everyone if you simply said that the baby was Hook's."

Emma recognized the not so well hidden deeper sentiment in Regina's words, and rushed to reassure her as best she could. "I thought about that actually. I'm not gonna lie, it would be easier, but there is one pretty big fail in the logic of that lie." Emma paused and chuckled dismissively before she continued, "Hook and I have never had sex."

Regina opened her eyes in an instant and fixed a look on Emma that silently shouted disbelief. She had seen the sniveling puppy dog sniffing around Emma incessantly like she was a piece of meat. Their faces were practically glued together. He was a pirate; they weren't exactly known to take vows of chastity.

"What is it?" Emma's line of thought failed to coincide with Regina's. "You don't want anyone to know that the baby is yours? I know you're ashamed of what we did, and yeah, it was totally wrong, but to disown it…that's even sicker than how we made the thing."

The words were coming fast and Regina was still not in the right frame of mind for this conversation to happen. She'd thought she could do this, but perhaps it was too soon. All she registered was that the woman sitting beside her was suddenly raging at her.

"Emma, no! Never…If he so much as looked at my …." She cut herself off by clamping her mouth shut and breathing hard through her nose.

She tried to make herself understood. She needed Emma to understand the truth of her feeling was the exact opposite. It would absolutely kill her to let people assume that the baby belonged to Killian and Emma. Them, together with the baby and not her. She had never liked the man, but she hadn't realized her feelings for what they were before now.

She was outright jealous of him.

Regina was far too possessive to give over what she felt was hers to the one-handed idiot and that included both Emma and the baby. She didn't even like when he had taken Henry for one sailing lesson, but she had played nice and dealt with it.

Emma stood up, her face was red and the cheerful, go lucky demeanor she had put on display at the beginning of their meeting had evaporated. She turned away from Regina and clutched the mantle above the fireplace like it was the only thing keeping her from falling down and giving up on the spot.

"Maybe we're not ready for this…It's not like I don't believe in abortion. I didn't have any option when I was in prison, but maybe we shouldn't have this baby at all," Emma spoke in a growl forcing the words from her mouth, and Regina's mind filled with dread.

"Don't you dare talk about terminating! Don't you dare say another word like that and I don't want to hear that Henry just so happened to make it because you were deprived of your rights!" Regina was angry now. She was mad at herself for putting Emma in a position where she had to even think about a decision as dire as this.

She only knew one thing for certain. "Emma, I want us to have this baby. I want it more than anything."

Emma turned around then, the message finally seeming to sink in. She wiped at her running nose, her face was unnaturally red. "Okay, yeah?"

"Yeah," Regina nodded, tears welling over her eyelids and streaking silently down her cheeks. She didn't give a damn about hiding her emotions anymore. If she wanted Emma to share the pregnancy with her, she'd have to be willing to share herself with Emma no matter what that meant or how dark and hard the truth was.

"So we just tell it like it is? Send out a 'we're having a baby' announcement that explains how exactly our future bundle of joy was conceived?" Emma asked in a flat sardonic tone. Her walls were rising up; Regina recognized the sarcasm as her defense mechanism.

She shook her head. "I…just wanted my damned happy ending, Emma. I didn't think a baby was in my destiny, but sometimes destiny throws a curveball."

"You want to name her Destiny?" Emma sniffled and smirked.

"Absolutely not," Regina deadpanned.

Emma licked her dry lips as Regina led her back down over to the sofa, and handed her a tissue. Their eyes met and Emma relaxed a bit at the softness she recognized in them.

"Emma, I want to make you a promise. I'm going to take care of everything. I know you don't need me to. You might not think you want it, but I hope you will trust me and let me help. I don't want you to have regrets."

"So you really want to help me?"

Regina nodded sincerely, her lips parting in earnest hope that Emma was going to let her in. How the tables had turned from Regina keeping such a tight hold and power over Henry, nary letting Emma have a moment of time with their son. She realized how awful she'd been all born out of fear. But Regina couldn't be afraid anymore.

"I do, Emma. The baby will have the best of everything. If you need a foot rub…I'll hire the best masseuse to rub your feet even if it's in the middle of the night."

Emma had to laugh at Regina's offer. Each and every time anything vaguely resembling the domesticity of a traditional home was brought up, she couldn't help but imagine what sharing a home with Regina would be like. She didn't know if she wanted something like that, but she did know that she wanted much more from Regina than a foot rub.

"That's good. I appreciate your support," Emma didn't let her fantasies betray her diplomatic sounding words. "I was thinking the first thing I need you to do…is um…tell my mom about our baby."


	3. Chapter 3

Regina never expected to be standing on the edge of the road ten miles out of Storybrooke, ineffectually rubbing circles on Emma's back while she hurled into the ditch.

"Sorry this isn't very sexy," Emma straightened up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. The morning sickness was worse when she was in the car.

Regina squinted into the morning sun and handed over a tissue. "Why on earth does it matter if I find you sexy?"

She snapped out the question and turned to get back in the car before Emma could respond or see her blush, but she only made it three steps before she heard the unmistakable sound of another wave of nausea coming out hard. She automatically stepped back over to Emma as she made a whining sound of frustration and gasped for breath before she heaved again.

Regina made a face, but not one of disgust. She had comforted Henry many times when he had the flu, or vomited after a rare night of indulging on sweets. She was glad Emma couldn't see her expression from her position, she felt so guilty that she had caused this much distress. It was one thing to contemplate the potential joys and satisfaction of having a baby, and quite another to experience the reality of the process.

Thinking of their almost teenaged son, Regina gathered the curtain of hair that had fallen loose from Emma's ponytail and ran her fingers through it absently to hold it back from harm's way.

"Was it this bad with Henry?"

Emma shook her head and clutched her stomach as she bent over farther; presumably help the emptying of her stomach's contents along by aid of gravity. The two women were headed to an OB outside of Storybrooke for Emma's first ultrasound.

They mutually decided to get an official opinion and ensure that the baby was healthy before telling anyone in the family about it. Regina hoped more than anything that the baby was okay. She hadn't meant to do it, but she couldn't help herself. She had resigned herself to the truth that she couldn't become pregnant, and so her thoughts kept reminding her that this baby was hers, wholly and genetically.

Not that Henry was any less hers, but she didn't spend conscious time pondering the differences between an adopted child and a blood relation. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she wanted this. It made her feel incredibly selfish, especially at this moment when Emma was bearing the brunt of the work.

The worry about the baby being conceived through the use of magic weighed on her mind. They had only spoken briefly on the matter, both too embarrassed to address it properly. The general consensus as of now was that even though they both had magic within them and at the ready, it wouldn't be an option to use on the baby. Thus, Emma suffered through the morning sickness, and Regina scheduled the appointment with a modern OB and not a mystic midwife.

"I should drive the rest of the way," Regina stated as a matter of fact.

Emma stood up again; seemingly the worst was over as her stomach was properly devoid. "I shouldn't have eaten all those donuts," she mused to herself the taste left in her mouth obviously foul. "You drive my car? I don't think so, Regina. Just because you had the penis at the time, doesn't mean you get to be the man."

Regina recoiled in offense, not knowing how to navigate or respond to that statement. She reached into her purse for a bottle of water, removing the cap and handing it over to Emma. She had been trying to forget the recurring memory that suddenly pulled up inside her mind from the moment it happened. It wasn't easy to forget the way the spell had changed her body and made her feel.

She watched her take a few swigs and wash the bad taste away and spit.

She wasn't likely to forget how she wantonly fucked Emma in a haze of lust. She'd never been so turned on in her whole life. She was so ashamed of herself, and it sickened her that Emma hadn't a choice in the matter.

Regina ignored Emma's statement completely. As far as Regina was concerned she never wanted to talk about the means of conception because that open a much harder and more emotional conversation than either woman could currently bear.

Next she pulled a packet of mints from the pocket of her coat and sprinkled four them into Emma's palm, watching as she popped them all into her mouth at once.

"I will drive because I easily envision a situation in which you get another bout of morning sickness when we hit traffic and I will not be holding my purse open under your chin to catch any more of those half-digested donuts your gorged yourself on."

Emma rolled her eyes, but had to give up the battle. "About that, why did you let me go for a fourth one at Granny's this morning?"

Regina saw that question as a blatant trap. "Just because you eat like a child doesn't mean you are one. I'm not about to regulate what you eat, dear. Especially, knowing—well, I've read about pregnancy and cravings, and I know firsthand that…." Regina stopped herself from speaking and held out her hand asking silently for the keys.

"Yeah? You know firsthand what?" Emma wasn't about to let a personal Regina nugget as juicy as that go. She barely ever revealed personal anecdotes. She was kind of touched that Regina didn't judge her food intake, but also surprised.

After being served 'mommy and me' tea, she expected Regina to force vitamins and salads down her gullet. She may not be a child, but she was growing one, and the baby would be sharing her nutrition. She actually needed Regina to keep her on track and healthy, but she wouldn't admit such a vulnerable fact.

Regina slid in behind the wheel, knowing she'd have to tell Emma what she had started to say. There was nothing like the confined space of the yellow bug to pry the secrets out of her.

"So tell me?" Emma got into the car and slammed the door shut, immediately facing Regina and waiting. Her persistence reminded her of Henry.

"I guess certain habits were just ingrained in me from an early age. My mother used to decide exactly what I ate and when. Sometimes she would poke my stomach or pinch my arm and then take my plate away before I even had a chance to take more than one bite," Regina squeezed her eyes shut at the memory of going to bed crying and hungry for fear her mother was right: that she was fat and thus undesirable.

She opened again when she felt the soft touch of Emma's fingers brushing her forearm. A shiver ran through her body when she looked into sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry that happened to you. Your mother was…" Emma sighed trying to find the right words. She knew it was an incredibly touchy subject.

"My mother won't be around to have any influence whatsoever on our baby," Regina finished ruefully. She started the Bug and puzzled over the sticky transmission for a moment before they lurched back onto the road. "You can believe I'm grateful for that."

Emma didn't have any more sickness for the rest of the drive, and Regina lost herself in thought. Even now, with her mother long dead, she felt a sense of impending doom as if simply talking about her could bring back the power the other woman had over her. A part of her felt saddened that she hadn't really ever seen Regina as a mother. Then she remembered how she had used Henry and her love for him for nothing but manipulation. Regina's grip tightened on the steering wheel.

It was so strange that they were doing this together: that the baby was just their weird and thrilling secret. They were learning about each other on this deeper level out of necessity, and it was entirely on another level then the differences they had learned to put aside for the sake of Henry's wellbeing.

Regina had yet to deal with Robin. He had his wife back so she hardly thought he'd care about Emma's pregnancy, but still he seemed to want to talk with her at every turn. She regretted giving him a cell phone.

Emma directed Regina through the humming traffic until they found the small OB/GYN office where they had made the appointment. It seemed surreal to walk through the doors and make their way through the small waiting room to the receptionist.

"Good morning, here for an appointment?"

"Yes, Emma Swan," Regina said for her counterpart in a little bit of eagerness. "Okay, Emma we'll go ahead and bring you straight back to the examination room and get you into a gown. Your friend can wait out here," the receptionist nodded toward Emma who was milling about looking around the room at the abstract art and the bubbling fish tank.

"Oh, actually, she is Emma," Regina smiled and shook her head at the misunderstanding. "I'm…I'm the…"

The receptionist seemed to clue in immediately and smiled knowingly, and then peered past Regina and called out to Emma. "Ma'am if you could step up here, I just need to confirm your address and birthdate to make sure we have your correct information."

Emma slid up to the counter, "Um sure." While she waited for the questions she brushed her shoulder against Regina causing her to step back. "Regina, you can wait here. You don't have to come back there with me. It's okay, really."

Just when Regina thought that Emma really did understand her, she'd say something like that. She assumed that Regina didn't want to be there? The truth was she wanted to be Emma right then, she wanted to know what it was like to be pregnant, but she didn't know how to convey all of that. A headache started in her temple, as she tried to keep calm and keep Emma seeing her disappointment.

She couldn't' let this pass her by. While Emma handed over her driver's license for the receptionist to scan in, Regina leaned in and whispered in a strained voice, "I want to go with you. I want to be a part of this. Why else do you think I came today?"

Emma fixed a look of cool determination on her face, and then smiled a bit in surprise. She really had it in her head that while Regina was there with her, she still felt she had to do this on her own. "So what do we tell these people?"

Regina looked as though she didn't give a rat's ass about these people. The Doctor, the set up was just a means to an end: people who could provide information about her baby. That was all. Suddenly, she worried that somehow they would be able to tell that the baby wasn't conceived conventionally. She wondered if she'd be asked to provide details she couldn't begin to even formulate.

"I mean about who you are to me and the baby, so you can come in with me," Emma added to her statement upon seeing the look of utter horror etched over Regina's face.

"I'm not sure," Regina replied absently, lost in thought once more.

"We're lesbians, okay?" Emma whispered so softly that Regina feared she missed it. The receptionist came back and sat down at her terminal.

"What?" Regina hissed, she thought Emma said something preposterous about lesbians. Emma shot her a look to shut up and play along.

"My partner would like to come back with me, alright?" Emma widened her stance at the reception window and placed both palms on the counter. Regina didn't comment, but it was almost comical how she effortlessly butched up.

"Absolutely," the woman smiled in full acceptance. Her voice was high and not false, but it was obvious she saw a parade of pregnant women so her enthusiasm seemed forced, "Congratulations, this must be very exciting for you both."

She addressed Regina solely to appear even more interested in her life, "Is this your first child together?"

"Uh, no actually… we have a son," Regina batted her eyelashes, finally feeling a modicum of relief and comfort for the first time all day. This she could do. She was already a mother and with Emma at that. She needed to simply remind herself of that fact and they were good to go.

Without protest she let Emma take her hand. The tentative squeeze of her palm was more reassuring than she thought possible.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I apologize for any inaccuracies in the ultrasound process as I am just going with what I've seen on TV.

The hallway smelled of sanitization as they held hands for the brief walk and broke apart upon entering the examination room. The nurse took Emma away from her and did the basic vitals, and took her blood pressure. She steered Emma back out of the room to weigh her and ask a few screening questions while Regina waited awkwardly, standing alone in the quiet room.

She stared at the abstract art on the wall until Emma reentered.

A folded paper gown lay out on the visitor's chair and the nurse instructed Emma to change into it, before she closed the door and left.

Regina watched Emma snatch up the gown and then dropped nervously into the chair next to the bed and equipment. Everything looked so foreign and technological. Hospitals and doctor's offices made her feel skittish for reasons she didn't understand. She pressed her palms onto her knees and turned her head away from Emma as she undressed.

Emma shimmied out of her jeans and pulled her shirt over her head. She was standing there topless unfolding the complicated gown that wouldn't cooperate and frowned when she started to speak.

"Don't stare at me like a creeper, but you don't have to look away either," Emma caught the look of discomfort Regina had thrown her before rocking forward and turning to the side. "You've already seen my vag anyway, and you're going to have to get used to it if you keep coming to my appointments."

Regina gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. It was embarrassing enough that Emma remembered it all so clearly. The funny thing about time travel was that Regina's memory of hauling Princess Emma into her bedchamber was new, but almost 30 years old at the same time. Last time Regina had indeed seen Emma's vag she had done so much more than just look.

She took in a sharp inhale of breath, and realized she was indeed staring like a creeper as Emma slid her panties down her legs and kicked them over her feet. She gave Regina a look as she scooched up on the exam table, the paper crinkling loudly under her ass as she settled in to wait for the doctor.

The room became quiet and awkward.

"Emma…I feel so…I don't see how you can…" Regina started and stammered and Emma's eyes looked pained.

"You're forgiven," Emma stated quietly but clearly. "I don't mean to make jokes about it. I can tell how sorry you are, but you need to know something—."

Regina blinked back the flurry of emotions which were swirling up her spine like a fleet of fiery butterflies. She held her breath and waited for Emma to continue, but the door clicked open and the Doctor came in bearing a friendly smile.

"Hello, are we all excited?" Dr. Jones greeted both of them, unaware he had interrupted a serious conversation. Regina forced a smile onto her face and straightened up in her chair. She wanted Emma to hold her hand again, but she clasped them together in her lap.

"Hey, Doc," Emma breathed out in a voice that only Regina could detect the nervousness of. "Yep, pretty excited."

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he glanced down at her chart, and looked quizzically back up at Emma, sparing a quick glance at Regina.

"Aside from the morning sickness, not too bad," Emma chimed in, and Regina wasn't sure if she downplaying her emotional fears or if she really didn't have any qualms worth mentioning.

"That's normal. It should pass after the first trimester. It looks here that you're about 8 weeks along. Dr. Jones draped a blanket over Emma's lap and guided her to lie back on the table. "Today we're going to do the first ultrasound, and listen for the baby's heartbeat, and make sure that everything is where it's supposed to be."

Emma rolled her neck to dispel the tension and anxiety Regina could see brewing in her eyes. "Okay, let's do this."

He pushed the gown up and exposed her completely flat stomach. Regina's eyes honed in on it, as she had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that there was a new life growing inside there. She imagined what it would look like further along, when Emma was hugely pregnant.

"This is your second child, correct? It's been quite a few years since the first," Dr. Jones gathered the information from the notes on the chart, and began to spread gel over Emma's belly.

"Yes, Doctor," Regina spoke up, highly immersed in watching everything and automatically answering on Emma's behalf. Emma looked at her and pursed her lips, and Regina sat back, startled by the sound of her own voice.

"Aww, excellent. Then you should remember this," the doctor turned back to Emma and readied the machine. "I take it this is your partner?"

"Yes," Emma said, nodding toward Regina, who looked back with a weary grin. She didn't offer any other details on their complicated relationship.

"I take it the baby was conceived through artificial insemination?"

At this question Emma faltered for a moment. The Doctor waited expectantly.

"Yeah, something like that," Emma finally said, again looking at Regina helplessly.

The Doctor nodded skeptically, but didn't press for any more information. "Alright, here we go. You can come closer, ma'am, to get a better look."

Regina shifted her chair quickly and leaned in to watch as the flat top of the sonar machine slid along Emma's stomach on the gel. The monitor displayed the black, white and grey images of Emma's womb.

"This feels weird," Emma exclaimed in a burst of emotion, her face turning red and her eyes growing damp. Regina took her hand and placed her other one on her forearm to steady her.

"Emma, look," she directed her attention to the screen, trying to keep calm herself as her emotions started to get the better of her.

She heard the blonde let out a breath and then the rapid beat of the baby's heart started to thump out of the machine.

Regina started crying then, adrenaline racing through her as she felt her own heart speed up at the sound. Emma's face crumpled, her brow furrowed and her lips curling as she openly wept.

The baby was real. It was alive inside her, and Regina had been integral in it happening. The sound brought them into reality, and everything except that rapid steady beat melted away.

"Looks and sounds like a good start. The baby is right where it should be," Dr. Jones motioned vaguely to a dark spot that neither woman could really tell what they were truly looking at.

It didn't faze either woman; both were caught up in the emotion of the moment at hand. With one long look into each other's eyes, Regina felt all everything become clear in her mind and saw the same clarity reflected back on the other woman's face. She jumped up from her chair and wrapped her arms around Emma in a hug before she could stop herself.

This gift that she was getting, a baby that Regina certainly didn't feel she deserved, but couldn't help from loving was all that mattered. She vowed in her heart that she would protect and care for her baby's mother forever. Emma made a noise, as Regina pressed her lips to soft skin of her temple.

The doctor even looked a bit emotional, as he started to wipe the gel off of Emma's stomach. The machine printed out a little grey photo of the dark spot in Emma's uterus that was rapidly growing into their baby.

"This is really happening," Emma mumbled as she brought her arms up around Regina, not wanting her to let go. "Wow."

…

Regina stared at the picture as Emma divested the gown and redressed into her clothes.

"Okay, so I kind of wish we could just keep this between us for a while longer, but I think we really need to start telling people," Emma licked her lips to gauge Regina's reaction. "Certain people," she amended with a light shrug.

"We will," Regina agreed.

The drive home was quiet. Regina insisted on driving again. It was a way to give her some semblance of control over the situation, and she knew she drove more cautiously than Emma. She felt her OCD over protective tendencies rising to the surface.

Emma fussed with the radio and rubbed her face, trying to scrub off the dried tear tracts. "I didn't expect to get so emotional. It must be the hormones."

"Neither did I," Regina agreed, though she didn't have pregnancy hormones as an excuse. Not that either of them needed an excuse.

"With the due date in December, I think by then Neal will have grown out of a bunch of his baby stuff so I'm sure we can take his hand me downs," Emma said absently.

That was, if Snow and Charming were on speaking terms with either of them after they found out that Regina provided half of the baby's genetic components.

"Oh, I'm surprised you didn't know, the baby things that Neal is using are actually Henry's hand me downs," Regina informed. "We'll just have to borrow them back."

Emma got quiet and looked out the window, and Regina worried she'd said the wrong thing. "I didn't know that, huh." She seemed dumbfounded. Then she got quiet again.

Regina looked over at her. They were nearing Storybrooke and once they returned they wouldn't have this opportunity to talk again for a little while. She took a chance.

"Before the doctor came in you were about to tell me something. Something important. What was it?"

Emma turned from the window, and Regina saw her cheeks were pink and flushed again. "I..um, need to tell you…that even though it wasn't my ideal by any stretch of the imagination…a part of me, well…a big part of me, actually really wanted… what happened between us to happen."

Regina stiffened in disbelief. What was she saying? She remembered the event clearly, but she thought looking back on it that Emma had been pretending to be into it. She couldn't imagine that it had been pleasant to be tied up and taken against her will.

"What?"

"What I said…don't make me say it again, God," Emma slumped against the seat and squeezed her eyes shut. "It's so embarrassing."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure I don't need to say it, but this canon divergence AU assumes that Elsa stayed in her urn. No Frozen stuff happening.

Emma stared at the bassinet where her baby brother slept peacefully. His features were so similar to what Henry must have looked like at this age, and, as Emma had just discovered, in this exact same bassinet. Presumably, since there were so few babies born in Storybrooke, there wasn't demand for a 'Baby's R Us'.

The problem was the same one Emma had been trying to solve for her entire life. She didn't know how to have family. She'd never truly felt a part of one, and any group of people that had called themselves that hadn't let her join.

"Emma, what's wrong? What are you thinking about?" Mary Margaret walked up behind her as she looked down at Neal and placed her hands gently on Emma's arms. She shrugged away from her touch, feeling uneasy.

Today was the day and now was the time that she and Regina were going to tell her parents that she was knocked up. Emma could hear Regina in the kitchen engaged in a conversation with Henry and David.

They were all laughing. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to imagine them all as a family. Was this it?

She and Regina still had so much to discuss and decide. The day before, on the way home from the appointment, Emma had admitted that she had enjoyed being with Regina. The fear and embarrassment surrounding the whole conception wasn't really something the two of them could discuss yet. It was too hard.

Thus, they were about to open up the floor to commentary from others. Emma looked down at the still full glass of wine she'd been carrying around, and wished she could have a drink. Whiskey, preferably.

Wine made her feel warm and tired.

In fact, when Regina had arrived at The Charming's quaint loft she had come holding a bottle of red wine in one hand and a bottle of white in the other. She smiled brightly and opened the bottles almost immediately, asking David where the wine glasses were and busying herself in the kitchen as if it were her own.

Then she poured Emma a glass of red and hand it over, all while Emma shook her head in protest. Regina waited until Mary Margaret was out of earshot and then leaned up to whisper in Emma's ear.

"If you don't drink, with us all, they'll be suspicious," Regina said conspiratorially, as she insisted Emma take the glass.

"And you can. You can have a glass of wine, Emma. I read that it won't hurt the baby. Just one."

The look she had given made it clear that Regina believed Emma would regret it if they told everyone about the baby in a completely sober state. With the way Regina was cackling Emma was pretty sure she had brought one bottle for herself alone, and the other for everyone else combined.

Emma startled back into the present and answered her mother, "I'm fine. I was just…thinking about family."

"That's so sweet," Mary Margaret squeezed her arms again and smiled at her daughter. Emma feared she would go on another rant about love or hope, but instead she brushed past her and picked the baby up from the crib. Emma felt the sudden need to clear her throat and focus on something else. She didn't feel connected to her baby brother. She didn't feel fully connected to her parents. What was a family really she wondered again, as thoughts of her baby, Henry and Regina popped into her mind.

"Alright, everyone the casserole will be ready in twenty minutes, so if you'll all join me in the living room, Emma says she has some news," Mary Margaret announced to the room, and waved them all to the living room.

Emma felt her heart start to race and a bit of adrenaline raced through her veins. This was going to be the scary part. She caught Regina's eyes as she exited the kitchen, trailing after David and Henry. Of course, Regina looked delightfully drunk: splotches of pink high on her cheeks and a strange grin pulled tight on her lips, and her eyes were shiny.

"Jesus, how much have you had to drink?" Emma hissed as she stopped in her tracks, trying to ascertain how badly this pregnancy announcement was going to go. So far it didn't bode well, when her baby Mama was half-way to wasted.

"I had 2 glasses," Regina was immediately defensive, and Emma detected a slight slur in her voice. "I…I thought your pirate friend was going to be here."

Regina tapped her foot and refused to look at the blonde's face. Emma glared at her, "Seriously? You're worried about Hook right now."

"I thought since we're telling your parents and Henry, we might as well tell your boyfriend too," Regina sounded overly critical and sarcastic.

Emma inhaled and bit her lip, as she sat her still full glass of wine down on the counter hard, "Maybe we shouldn't tell them tonight…maybe we should wait, until…."

She was about to say they were both sober, but she cut off. If Emma had her way she'd announce this pregnancy the same way she'd announced Henry's: which is to say she hadn't. Mary Margaret had known her grandson for his whole life, even if they were cursed. Emma felt herself starting to panic, maybe another curse was just the ticket to cancel everything out and they could have a redo.

She registered Regina's fingernails digging into her biceps; she was shaking her lightly and calling her name. "You're worried about me drinking too much? I was afraid you were going to pass out!"

"I'm fine," Emma mumbled and took a deep breath. She shook Regina's hands off of her and gave her a look.

"You're unbecoming when you pout. Do try and be a bit more sympathetic looking when I tell your mother that I got you pregnant," Regina rolled her eyes and hurried Emma into the living room where the rest of her 'family' was waiting.

The furniture was pulled into a circle and Henry sat on the floor staring at his hand held game, while Mary Margaret and David sat together on the couch. Emma dropped into the recliner, her feet were burning and swelling already and she hadn't even walked that much. They had to tell them tonight, otherwise she'd put it off forever and word was bound to get out sooner than later.

Someone would notice Emma wasn't drinking, and the rumors would start. It was better this way. For everyone to get on the same page and realize all the ways that her life was going to drastically change. Emma was sure everyone would have a strong opinion, but she was determined that the only person she would really listen to was Regina.

Regina took a seat on the arm of the couch, swaying lightly and almost falling. Her mouth fell open in surprise as Emma watched realization strike that she was drunker than she thought. With embarrassment, Regina lowered herself on the side of the couch; she was next to Mary Margaret and David and directly across from Emma.

"So what's up?" Mary Margaret asked cheerily. She patted David's knee and cocked her head in just that way that drove Emma crazy. She was so attentive and so loving.

"Regina wants to tell you," Emma lifted her eyebrows effectively passing the ball to the woman who definitely wouldn't be driving anytime in the near future.

"Right…I do..," Regina nodded and tried several times. It looked like the words were stuck in her throat; finally she let out a muted squeak and said, "Baby…the baby..."

"Hmm? Neal is fine. David you changed his diaper, right?" Mary Margaret appeared confused and distracted. David knew something was up.

"No, I don't think Regina means Neal…do you?" He asked squirming a bit in his seat. Henry had put his game down sensing the shift of tension in the room. It got too quiet and Regina looked at Emma for help or strength…or a way out.

Emma didn't think, she just blurted it out upon seeing Regina's distress.

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh, Emma! That's wonderful!" Mary Margaret and David leapt from their seats; tears were rolling down Mary Margaret's cheeks the instant she heard. Henry stood up and looked her over, "That's great, Ma." He thought for a second, working something out and then declared, as if his wish was as good as granted, "I want a brother."

Regina bowed her head, and turned in on herself. Her shoulders were high and tight and she wasn't saying a word. Emma was forced to look at her mother, as she cradled her chin in her palms and alternated brushing back her hair.

David pulled her to her feet and wrapped her up in a long, comforting fatherly hug. "Always a blessing," he said with a hearty and true smile.

"Honey, I had a feeling that you were going to tell us this…and its okay if you and Hook aren't married yet. I realize this is the real world and not the Enchanted Forest, it's not like any haggardly old witch is going to come for your baby outside Granny's or anything, but seriously this is so wonderful…."

Emma tuned out Mary Margaret's monologue and broke free from the parade of attention; she practically jumped onto the couch, bouncing into Regina as she landed beside her. She possessively wrapped her arm around her shoulders must to Regina's surprise and just in time for everyone to see what was happening, but not quite register why Emma had her arm around Regina.

Emma informed them, "Hook isn't the father…the father…Regina…well, something happened when I went through that portal into the past."

"What? What happened?" Of course Henry was all ears at the mention of time travel.

Emma took a deep breath, and she felt Regina practically writhing in embarrassment and fear beside her. It felt important that they keep touching. Emma needed to feel any sort of connection in that moment and a physical one was best, even if they touched rarely any other time.

"I met the Evil Queen and there was a certain magic spell involved in our…meeting which resulted in my pregnancy now," Emma felt calm as she explained it in the most PG rated way she could possibly muster. What was worse was she didn't know if she explained it like that for Henry's sake or for her mother's.

They were quiet. Mary Margaret was stunned and frozen in place, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. David had turned red; even the whites of his eyes were bloodshot. Henry looked puzzled as he was working out that both his moms were going to be new moms, though he looked like he thought nothing would be changing in their lives.

Then baby Neal let out a deafening shriek from his crib and David barreled over and around his wife to go care for his son. He couldn't have left the room faster. Mary Margaret stepped closer, "Was there…did you two have sex together?"

"Yes," Emma lifted her eyes and gave her mother a cursory glance. She was staring daggers at Regina, who hadn't dared speak or look up.

"Henry!" Mary Margaret yelled, not taking her eyes away from Regina, even though Henry was standing right there. "Go get the casserole out of the oven."

Henry ran to the kitchen, sensing that his grandmother meant business. He didn't want or need to be involved in the adult conversation anyway.

"How am I supposed to believe this?" She asked honestly wondering what to think about it. "Emma did you…approach the Evil Queen and you two just...unless… no! Did you force her?"

The last part of the question was directed to Regina, and Emma felt a splash of wetness land on the back of her hand. Regina was crying. She registered movement and saw that Regina had nodded in confirmation. The feeling was horrifying, and Emma wanted to take that part back. She had hoped that 'magic' would be enough explanation, but obviously not for Mary Margaret.

They had spoken about the time travel when Emma and Hook had first returned with Marian. They had explained the whole story, but Emma had never mentioned the mystery hours in which she spent as the Evil Queen's prisoner.

People just assumed she had been locked up in the dungeon.

"You mean to tell me that of the all things you did as the Evil Queen: all the people you killed and all the times you tried to kill me and the people I love, that now… now you can add that you violated my daughter and impregnated her… years before she was even born?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Since I'm switching viewpoints depending on whose thoughts I want to explore, Regina thinks of MM as Snow, while Emma thinks of her as MM so how she'd referred depends on which character viewpoint I'm exploring. This chapter is some serious angst.

It had been a long time since Regina had seen Snow this upset. She couldn't bear to look at her. The force of her emotion was weighing down like a tornado ripping her apart.

She heard the truth that Snow spoke and shut her eyes, hanging her head as if she could hide away from her past actions in the dark. She hadn't been thinking coherently when she decided to drink a whole bottle of wine before she even made it over.

Emma hadn't left her. Emma was still curled against her side, and Regina realized she was holding her hand, and actually defending her abhorrent actions to Snow.

"Regina didn't know that I was your daughter at the time, and the whole reason I got taken prisoner was because I was trying to help you escape. Guess what? You're still alive, Mom and so am I, and a lot has happened since…."

Snow wasn't listening, and it was pointless to argue the semantics and logistics. There was no justification or rationalization that was going to convince Snow that this situation would be okay.

"I don't care what has happened. This is so wrong! A baby! Her baby, and what am I just supposed to gloss over and ignore…my gods, Emma, how are you so calm? How can you know that you're carrying her—her-you're not that far along, you can fix this-," Snow took a step back when Emma jumped up in challenge.

"Stop! Henry is in the kitchen, do you want him to hear all this?" Emma was shouting loud enough that not only Henry could hear her. Regina folded her arms together, in a subconscious attempt to comfort herself since Emma had detached from her side.

"Emma, move. I'm talking to Regina right now, and I want to know some things. Was she trying to get you pregnant?" Snow seemed hysterical and Regina didn't want to have this conversation ever. They should have waited to tell her. They should have packed up Henry and left town and come back in ten years. Maybe.

That plan would have been easier and far less painful to execute then this little talk they were in the midst of now.

Regina stood up, to walk away and the room spun. She looked down at the floor and through the tears and tunnel vision it looked so far away. She wasn't going to sit here and listen to anymore of Snow's angry thoughts. She felt bad enough and Henry had heard too much already. She couldn't bear anymore looks of disappointment.

She felt Emma catch her before she fell, and pull her back down on the couch.

"You two are not getting out of this discussion until I hear it from Regina. I want to hear exactly what she was thinking and what she did!" Snow was red as a tomato and David had come back looking with concern and horror between the lot of them as he cradled and bounced the screaming baby on his hip.

"Look, you all have to calm down now. It's not going to do anyone any good if all you do is yell at each other. I'm taking Neal and Henry and we're going for a walk. I think we need some fresh air."

"But what about the casserole?" Snow wiped at her eyes and was suddenly concerned about family dinner.

"It's tuna, better as leftovers anyway," David mumbled before nodding curtly at Emma and ignoring Regina. "Come on, Henry, let's go."

Henry ran into the room and furled his brow looking frightened and upset. "Moms, grandma I don't want you to fight, okay? I just want everyone to be happy, and baby's make people happy, right?"

"Oh, Henry…there's so much more to it," Snow started in a pleading voice.

"Henry, go with David," Emma stated firmly, while glaring at Snow and pointing for Henry to get out of there.

He hesitated and then took a few awkward steps around the coffee table and leaned in between Regina and Emma with his arms out wrapping them both in a hug that caught them by surprise. "No matter what, I know how hard you both have fought, and I love you."

"I love you too, Henry," Regina breathed out as she tightened her grip on her son. Her heart bloomed with a resonating feeling of love. Henry always gave her strength.

Then he stepped back, and gave Snow a look that conveyed his worry and the thought that he hoped they wouldn't kill each other while he was gone.

Snow decided to sit down, some of the wind was knocked out of her sails. Her fury was still brewing under the surface, but she was taking a minute to think about what exactly this all meant.

The stroller rolled out the door and it slammed shut behind the boys as they got out of there.

"Why did you have to tell us this tonight? I was so looking forward to a nice dinner," Snow rubbed her temple in exhaustion.

Emma's face had gone blank. She was torn. "You've never really felt like a mother to me."

At the tremble and malice in Emma's voice, Regina felt herself growing more sober and she dared to open her eyes and look at the woman sitting next to her.

"Do you have to say such hateful things?" Snow's face twisted in pain. She seemed to be fighting off a massive headache.

"I'm trying to tell you that from the way we met, and finding out about the curse and the truth, nothing has been easy or traditional in my life," Emma tensed up and Regina placed a hand on her leg. Her lips formed a silent 'O' as she wondered where Emma was going.

"Yes, but…"

"No, just let me explain how I feel for once. I have resentment toward you and David that is probably never going to be forgiven. You sent me away when I was a baby, and you suggest that I terminate this baby's life before birth."

Emma pounded her fist on her stomach in anger, and Regina winced. She grabbed her hand to stop her. Snow looked at them with disgust. They were all crying, big wet ugly tears and twisting in the unescapable tension.

Regina felt like she was unable to breathe. "Emma, maybe we should go and continue this later? Stress isn't good for the baby."

Emma seemed to relax a miniscule degree. It was something Regina was attuned to feel in her rather than see. As her face remained red, tears continued to fall and she was locked in an emotional battle with her mother.

"No, I'm fine. I want to get it out onto the table and then we can go," Emma turned in place on the couch, and swallowed looking at Regina for strength. She bit her lip and turned back to Snow.

"You think it would be better if this baby was Hook's, hmm? Would that be easier to understand? I'll tell you how things went. The Evil Queen captured me, and yes, she tied me up and I didn't have a choice in what we did…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Snow sobbed. "Emma, I don't want to know."

"Oh, but a bit ago you did. You asked Regina exactly what happened between us so now I'm going to tell you. If it had been my choice I wouldn't have been tied up, I wanted to use my hands to touch her too…In fact, I can't tell you the number of times I've imagined a very similar event happening between the two of us. I wanted it, no matter what your opinion is."

Regina blinked in surprise. Her tears dried up and she felt a sense of shock and a shameful flutter of arousal at Emma's admission. It was one thing for Emma to have not been entirely opposed to what had happened, but to hear she'd welcomed it, and even fantasized about it was a new revelation.

"I get it, Emma… she's cursed your mind as well as your body. This isn't you. This isn't my little girl. You're defending a baby conceived of rape…" Snow cut herself off at that and slammed her hands onto her ears and pulled her knees up to her chest to block everything out.

"We told you as a courtesy. We decided to keep this baby no matter how it came to be, because we have to confront this reality. I wanted you to be in it with us. I hoped you'd be supportive, but I should have learned by now to not hope for anything," Emma stood up abruptly, and grasped Regina's arm hauling her stunned and numb feeling body up from the couch.

"Snow, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," Regina finally added to the conversation saying the only words that she could muster.

Emma looked at her wide eyed as if she had betrayed her, and Regina gasped at the hurt that shone like jagged glass in her dark green eyes. "No, Emma…this is-," she said, trying to convey her horribly jumbled array of feelings.

Emma shook her head stiffly telling her to save it, "I'm driving you home."

As soon as the pair stepped into the cool late evening air, it acted like an emotional exhaust pipe, draining them both of malice and all the energy they had left.

Regina didn't protest as she tersely landed into the passenger seat of Emma's bug. Her whole body ached and she wanted nothing more than to sleep for days.

Emma stared ahead with hardness on her face; she shivered from the change in temperature and realized she had left her coat upstairs. She let her head fall forward onto her hands that were splayed out on the steering wheel.

She mumbled towards her lap, "That went better than I expected."

Regina tried to chuckle, but she was too tired to laugh even without emotion. "Snow is right to be upset, and so are you."

"Yeah, you think? I just told my mom that I enjoyed when you raped me. How fucked up is that?"

Regina winced and bowed her head. "It wasn't me…not who I am now anyway. I would never want to touch you…"

That wasn't exactly true, Regina seemed to crave touching and being touched by Emma with a passion. "I mean, I would never want to hurt you in that way. I was different then—deranged on power and believed I could get away with whatever sick whim I had and acted on, but even then…with you I felt different."

"Thanks, I guess," Emma started the engine, sufficiently calmer and back to her usual defense of humor. "I think we should make an appointment with Dr. Hopper for Henry, you know, immediately…if I'm feeling this traumatized I don't even know what the extent of psychological damage is we've inflicted on our son.

Regina swiveled in her seat. Henry seemed to take the news in the most mature and optimistic way than anyone else.

"There's something else I should tell you," Regina breathed out, her mouth was dry and her nostrils burned from the thick and stale tasting wine stuck on tongue that had gotten the best of her.

"What now?" Emma wasn't sure she was ready to handle any more truths or revelations. Though the 'something else' was becoming a recurring theme between them because that's what happened when you spent so long repressing feelings. The truth would come out sometime, but did it always have to be when she didn't feel ready to hear it.

"I did some research about that potion I used. There wasn't a lot of information in my books, but it appears that in order for a child to result from such a spell both of us had to wish for it.

"What are you saying?" Emma asked out of reflex, but her mind was already wondering, and reliving the frame of mind she was in during the time travel spell. "How drunk are you?"

Regina ignored the flippant accusatory tone emanating from her partner.

"I'm saying that on some level…I must have recognized something in you or there was a greater force at work than either of us understood through conscious thought."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have tried to fight off a cold since Tuesday and it finally caught up with me. I hate summer colds. My eyes burn and I can't breathe, so I apologize in advance for typos and anything related to the truncated flow of oxygen to my brain. 
> 
> I also really wanted to record this chapter for a practice podfic, but now my voice is all scratchy and nasally so I won't be able to do a proper impression of Robin Hood: "Rergeena let me in!"

A loud gurgle from erupted from Emma's stomach from hunger as she parked the Bug in front of Regina's house. She raised her arms and spoke through a long yawn, "I guess we missed out on family dinner."

"Let's get you and the baby something to eat," Regina opened the car door and hoisted herself out with a bit of difficulty. She watched as Emma hesitated by the car.

"You don't have to cook for me, Regina. I can always go to Granny's if you want to be alone," Emma's face was blank, and Regina was too tired to press and decipher if she didn't want to come in or if she didn't want to put Regina out.

"And then what? Do you plan to head back to your parents' house tonight?" Regina was fully expecting and more than prepared for Emma to stay with her.

"I don't know." Emma thrust her hands into the pockets of her jeans and scrunched her shoulders. She had never looked more awkward.

"Come on," Regina was standing at the door and tapping her foot in impatience. "All of this stress isn't doing my baby any favors."

"Ha, try being pregnant in prison. I was pretty much stressed to the max with Henry and he's okay," Emma stated it as a simple fact, but Regina couldn't help but twist it in her head. She had spent far too much time imagining what Emma faced in prison after catching a late night airing of an episode of MSNBC's "Lock up."

Regina opened her mouth and then thought better of it as she led Emma into the foyer. "Go sit down at the table."

It wasn't often that Emma took orders without complaint, but her head was pounding, her stomach growling and her general attitude towards life itself was crumbling. She was about to crumble and she hated that she had to rely on anyone to keep her from turning into a pile of dust, let alone Regina. She took a deep breath and listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen: the fridge opened, and then the sound of ice cubes tinkling into a glass, water being poured…the sound was comforting and domestic.

Regina reappeared and placed the glass in front of her without a word.

Emma drank it all, despite the fact that her hormonal, changing body would probably have her up every hour to pee.

What seemed like only a few minutes later, Regina placed a chicken salad sandwich with a spinach side salad down in front of Emma, along with a plate for herself.

"I may not remember wishing for a baby, but somehow you managed to read my mind and grant my wish with this food," Emma smiled in appreciation and picked up the thick sandwich with both hands.

"You're welcome, I think," Regina wondered if they were going to dance around the magic surrounding the conception as well. Emma hadn't really said anything about Regina's revelation. She sat up, and concentrated on placing a bite of spinach and crouton onto the pricks of her fork and moving it to her mouth. Her chewing sounded overly loud and crunchy in her ears. "Would you like to take a bath or shower tonight?"

"What?" Emma pulled herself out of her love affair with her chicken salad sandwich. She wiped some crumbs and a patch of mayo from her lips.

"I'm just asking so I can get you a towel and some bath items after we eat," Regina shrugged wondering why Emma seemed so uncomfortable about such an innocent question.

"Oh, you really want me to stay the night?" Emma asked still surprised, despite it being the most logical solution.

Regina dropped her fork, trying to keep her features schooled in a mask of indifference, but the hurt was evident, "If you wish to go back to Snow's and make peace than by all means…"

"No…no!" Emma curled her lip and rested her hand on Regina's forearm, sensing that she was treading dangerous ground.

Then she dropped her half eaten sandwich and jumped up off of her chair in a startled jolt. It was just her cell phone ringing, but the fatigue and stress was besting her.

Regina swallowed a weary sigh and resisted the urge to rub her eyes. After 30 seconds of high pitched ringing she was about to snap, wondering if Emma was going to answer the phone or just shake her head and yell the device.

"No!" Emma said again and the phone cut off abruptly. She sat back down and resumed eating in silence, when the damn thing started ringing again. "This is bad."

"If Snow thinks you're going to have another conversation tonight after what she said then pass the phone to me," Regina held out her hand, assuming that Emma's mother had had more time to think and was calling with more grievances and horrifying scenarios demented by time travel.

"It's not her," Emma rolled her neck and looked down at her plate. "But I should have taken a clue from your playbook and known that my mother couldn't keep a secret even for a minute. She must have told Hook."

"Him?" Regina suddenly drunker than ever, her face felt hot and her head started pounding at the mere mention of Emma's boyfriend.

"I know, I thought I'd have more time to tell him," the urgency increased in Emma's voice as the phone rang for a third consecutive time. She placed it on the table and Regina looked at it with contempt as it buzzed, lit up, and rang in place. This time a moment after the ringing stopped the phone beeped. "He left a voicemail…should I listen to it?" Emma peered through her lashes to get Regina's opinion.

"Don't ask me…I don't' care what you do," Regina snipped back at her, rising from her seat and clearing her own plate in one smooth movement. She no longer had an appetite. She no longer wished to share a meal with Emma and her incessantly ringing phone.

As soon as she made it into the kitchen to scrape off her plate and place it in rack of the dishwasher, there came a sudden and hard knocking at the door. She just wanted to go to bed. Her quiet dark bedroom called to her, but she worried at the sheer number of possibilities of who was out there pounding at her door.

Emma called to her from the dining room, "Who is here?"

"I don't know, but it better not be Snow….or Hook," Regina whispered loudly and trained her eyes on the door.

"It might be Henry. He may not have wanted to stay with Snow either," Emma guessed, but even she knew Henry didn't knock-not like that- and not at his own door, not since Regina had welcomed him back home after brooding about the return of Robin's wife for a few weeks.

Then speaking of the man himself, the knocking came again, and a muffled yet very loud cry of "Regina! Let me in, please." The voice was unmistakably Robin's.

"What is he doing here?" Emma didn't even try to whisper; she stood helplessly in the foyer and looked between Regina and the door.

Regina stayed quiet, her head jerked almost imperceptibly before she called back, "Just a moment!"

Then quietly and evenly she replied to Emma, "He does this sometimes….comes over."

Emma's jaw dropped and her eyebrows flared up in shock. Regina shrunk down in guilty discomfort. "For dinner…" she added weakly so Emma wouldn't get the wrong idea, but it was too late.

In an overly dramatic voice, Emma balled her fists and her face turned red. "You let… him eat your tuna casserole? I thought you two were staying away from each other? His wife is…."

"Don't you talk…," Regina realized she was yelling. She lowered her voice, feeling sick of being judged by everyone over everything.

"Okay…"

"Emma, go upstairs," Regina ordered, and flicked her wrist dismissively. It was all she could do to keep control of her emotions. She hadn't seen Robin for weeks, ever since she found out about the baby. She tried to think of an excuse to give him. It wasn't like she had a lot of time to date her married soul mate. Her mind had been occupied on other things. The baby. Emma.

Could it be that he knew? Did Snow really work that fast? 

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but for a brief moment she saw the look in Regina's eyes and she knew that look. She was so done. Emma had about enough herself for one evening. She wondered if everything would feel simpler in the morning. It was doubtful, but she could hope for at least a bit less overwhelming.

"Good night," Regina called after the light thumps on the wooden stairs as Emma climbed up. Emma was about to return the sentiment, but wondered if Regina said it dismissively or she sweetly. She couldn't tell from her position on the echoing stairs. She did clearly hear the door swing open and a relieved Robin Hood cross the threshold and enter the mansion.

"Oh, Regina, why have you been avoiding me?"

"You need to go, Robin. Tonight is not a good night."

She definitely sounded firm and dismissive with Robin when she said the words 'good night.' With a realization that she may have been purposely eavesdropping, Emma ascended the final stairs and the words that Regina and Robin were saying faded into unintelligible noise. It sounded as though they had started to argue and for a moment Emma paused, debating whether she should get involved. She decided as Regina had said it wasn't a good night to express her true feelings about Regina and she supposed happy ending.

She breathed out a sigh of relief. The heat and tension she had felt downstairs cooled off in the dark quiet upstairs. Emma looked down the hallway. She hadn't spent a lot of time upstairs and she knew where Henry's room was, but Regina had been preoccupied and Emma had been a bit weird herself so they never properly discussed sleeping arrangements.

Regina forgot to get her a towel because Robin had stopped by and made himself the priority when Emma was feeling vulnerable. She had to consciously put a halt to the jealous pity party she threw in her head. It must be the hormones.

Puzzled as where to go, she started opening closed doors to find a guest room or at least the bathroom. She could do well with a splash of cool water on her face. She decided that would be enough as she was positively too tired to stay upright in the shower at this point anyway. The clock in the hallway chimed and Emma shuddered wondering what time in the morning Regina would kick her out.

She passed by the door that was Henry's and figured that the next one might have a spare bed in it. She yawned and opened the door to check. Her fingers fumbled for the light switch on the wall and she flipped it on.

"Oh my God," Emma's hands flew up to her mouth unbidden, she looked around the room feeling completely taken aback by what she found in there. It was clearly a room decorated in soft yellows and greens all ready for a baby.

It came complete with a stack of diapers on a shelf, and a crib against the wall. She walked around and let herself be overwhelmed by not only the reality that seemed to hit closer every day, but by the fact that Regina had done this. Had she already had it prepared, or was it new? 

She spotted the framed photos on the dresser, and fresh tears slid down her cheeks. There were individual pictures: One of Henry and Regina, and another one of Emma and Mary Margaret. There was a lovely shot from a crisp fall day of Emma, Regina and Henry between them wrapped up around their son and smiling into the camera.

Then Emma found the empty frames: one said in block letters beneath where the picture would be placed, "Our Precious Family." The other empty frame was rectangular and made of an antique looking metal in a neat script it read, 'The moment we saw you we fell in love.'

We. Our. Family. 

Emma bolted from the room in a panic as a strange and strong sensation took over. She threw open a few other doors as she scurried down the hallway: a closet, a bathroom and then finally a quiet dark bedroom. She darted inside, not bothering with the lights and slammed the door behind her. She kicked off her jeans and pulled her thin over shirt off, leaving the discarded clothing strewn on the floor.

In an instant threw back the expensive sheets and crawled under sinking into the soft mattress. Her heart pounded all the way into her neck, she smoothed her hands over her stomach, and she was thankful no one could hear or see her cry… except for her baby.


	8. Chapter 8

Regina was beyond tired when she finally got rid of Robin and made her way up the stairs. She had successfully avoided him since she found out about the baby, and she couldn't bear to look him in the eye. He didn't know, and she should have told him, but something inside her stopped from doing so.

He had already flared up at her, questioning why Emma's car was parked in the driveway of the house. It was none of his business. She didn't go about asking him all about what Marian was doing and how she was adjusting to town. She'd been supremely supportive when she first reappeared, even going so far to give her a campfire cooking book so Robin would presumably stop showing up on her doorstep looking hungry and asking for a decent meal.

When she had tried to send him away, because she was drunk, moody and exhausted he demanded an explanation for her behavior and when she didn't provide one he deflated like an old balloon and asked her for a ride home.

At that, it took all of her miniscule amount of self-restraint that she had left to not scream at him, but she did have to physically push him toward the door, and the honorable Robin Hood put his hands on her. He hadn't hit her or even shoved her, just towered over her and put his large paws on her shoulders and pushed down with a warning squeeze. Just enough to show her that if he wanted to he could hurt her far more than she could hurt him physically, but he was an idiot if he thought she would allow him to lay a finger on her before she blasted him with magic and she would be sure to aim for his dick.

He had dropped his hands and rubbed his forehead, and told her that he was there to wish her a happy mother's day. She snorted and became re-enraged. She opened the door with magic and pushed him out. Then promptly put a silencing spell on it so she wouldn't have to listen to him pound or shout at her any more.

How thoughtful of him. Her heart was pounding along with her head as she turned on her heel, extinguished all of the lights left on in the house with a precise swing of her hand and half stumbled up the staircase in the dark.

Regina entered her bedroom and tripped over a pair of discarded jeans on the floor. She bent over to get a better look after puzzling over what was there and came away with what she recognized as a black bra as she felt the cups and straps in the dark. She turned to the bed crossing a few steps closer and sure enough there was Emma sound asleep.

"A bit presumptuous, dear," Regina whispered into the air, but she was smirking. As she made her way into the bathroom to splash water on her heated face and change into comfortable clothes she wondered what she should do about this.

Her first inclination was to wake Emma up and draw a big boundary line with a stick by kicking her out just as she had Robin. But Emma was pregnant and she knew what she had been through that evening and just how badly she needed her sleep. Kicking Emma out wouldn't solve anything, especially after she'd made such a point to let her know she was welcome. It was just the old defenses and fears rising up in her; Regina was scared of what she wanted.

Having Emma asleep in her bed was a pretty strange scenario all things considered. This had only managed to happen one other time and under completely different circumstances: The night of the conception.

It weighed heavily on Regina's mind as she brushed her teeth and scrubbed her face clean of makeup. She slid out of her clothes and placed them in the hamper along with Emma's cast offs. She had made up her mind to gently wake Emma up and lead her to the guest room. If she was gentle enough Emma wouldn't even remember it, perhaps she'd just assume she had always been there.

She moved to the sleeping woman's side and peered down at her for a few moments, watching her face as she slept. She looked blank and smooth, dried tear tracts lined her cheeks and Regina couldn't bring herself to wake her.

Instead Regina moved back around the bed and pulled back the covers sliding in next to her. Maybe it was her exhaustion, or maybe the large amount of wine she had, or maybe she simply couldn't be bothered to make a production out of waking up Emma. Those are the justifications she used to explain away why she let the other woman stay in her bed.

The truth she couldn't deny was just how right it felt to be near her. There would be consequences in the morning.

…

Morning came abruptly for Emma. Her nose woke up first, the smell of the bacon was alive and in the air. Her mouth was next as it watered hungrily for just a moment before nausea replaced it. She forced her eyes open and cleared her throat as she scrambled to sit up in a bed she was started to realize wasn't hers. Also, there seemed to be a few extra limbs on top of her. Those most definitely were not hers. She felt an arm and a leg slide off of her accompanied by a vicious grumble, and then Regina opened her eyes and stared at her long and hard like she couldn't put the pieces together of where the hell she had come from. Emma's look was similar except she was covering her mouth as all the acid in her stomach rushed down and she fought the urge to puke all over Regina's bedspread.

"Morning?" Regina rasped out, her voice sounded dry and annoyed.

"Sickness," Emma added with a soft smile and their eyes stayed locked on one another for a moment, either woman able to really put what was happening or an explanation of events into words.

"Who is cooking?" Regina sat up and sniffed the air, her pajama top had been buttoned up wrong and an expanse of shadowy smooth looking breast was visible in between the material. Emma's eyes flew to it immediately and she swallowed hard. She imagined how glorious Regina had looked naked and Queenly and Emma felt the ache of nausea subside in favor for a low ache of another kind.

Her hormones were so fucked up. She tried to wrack her mind to make wondering if there had been any discussion about sleeping arrangements, and then she cringed at what Regina must have thought when she found her in bed. Then she came to the conclusion that it couldn't have been too mad because she was in bed with her, and Emma was not on the floor or outside on the ground.

"Regina, I'm sorry…" Emma started about to ask how she got into bed with her, and she knew this time armed guards hadn't captured her and dragged her there.

"Shh! Did you hear that? Someone is in my kitchen making breakfast!" Regina stated her voice laced with warning and anger. "If Robin got in here and did this…."

"Robin?" Emma recalled the night before, her cheeks blushing as she remembered everything from the anxiety and despair riddled family dinner with no actual food consumption to coming back to Regina's: the missed calls from Hook and the late night unexpected visit from Regina's ever intrepid and honorable (married) soul mate. "Did he stay over?" She hadn't meant to sound so accusatory, the irony not lost on her that she had herself stayed over.

"No!" Regina bellowed a bit too angrily, but she was overly sensitive to everyone thinking she was having an affair with a married man. She wasn't going to do that no matter what, but now she had an obligation to Emma and their child. She corrected her thoughts in head. It didn't feel like an obligation. It didn't feel like the baby had prevented her from doing anything she may or may not want to do with Robin, she felt like the baby was a joy.

She opened her mouth to apologize to Emma, but just as she did so, Henry carefully opened the bedroom door and brought in a tray with a full breakfast and a vase holding a rose in it. He precariously fiddled with the door handle so he could get it open without spilling a drop of coffee from the over-sized food tray.

"Happy Mother's-Mom? Ma?" Henry froze in place, positively looking confused and surprised to see both of his moms sitting up in bed. Together.

"Henry!?" Regina was shocked to see him. She had been so certain that Robin had broken in to cook bacon that she hadn't even entertained the possibility it was Henry.

He looked between the two with narrowed eyes and Emma felt her cheeks flush with guilt. She was acutely aware she wasn't wearing a bra…or pants, and she was in bed with Regina.

"Awesome, I'll go make up another plate," he shrugged and smiled as he brought over the tray and carefully handed it over to Regina who smoothed out the blankets and laid it over her lap.

"Wait, kid! I can explain, your mom was just helping me out and I sort of ended up in here. I thought it was the guest room," Emma was telling it to Henry, but she could see Regina staring at her in her peripheral vision.

"Whatever. It works out for me. Do you want coffee? How about pancakes?" Aside from the initial shock he was totally onboard with his parents sleeping together. It was unsettling and strangely relieving in a way that made Emma chastise herself for thinking that Regina was actually open to playing house with her.

Then she remembered the nursery, and her morning sickness came back.

"Um…no, Henry, thank you, but I probably shouldn't stay for breakfast," Emma made a face and Regina paused in action, her hands outstretched over a piece of buttered toast.

"Why not?" Both Henry and Regina asked simultaneously with matching looks of disapproval.

Because it's too domestic, and scary and thoughtful…and comfortable, Emma wanted to say. Instead she said something even worse. "Well, erm…I feel bad about Mary Margaret, I should probably go get her a mother's day card and some flowers."

"She's not really upset anymore. She's just worried," Henry offered helpfully. "Besides, Ma, you're pregnant and that means you need to eat a lot more, right?"

Emma didn't want to start an argument over food and she startled when she felt a cool press of glass against her forearm. She turned for the first time since Henry had entered and looked at Regina who was offering her a glass of juice from the tray.

Regina seemed hellbent on not letting Emma go track down Snow. She snickered in a faux mocking way and actually joked, "Henry, I see your logic, but at this stage of pregnancy Emma needs good nutrition not double portions of the junk she usually eats."

Emma looked between them and then with another gentle nudge took the glass of juice and drank a long swallow. It cooled her throat and made her mouth taste much better. "Hey, I thought you weren't going to police what I ate?"

"I said I wouldn't, true, but Henry never made that promise," Regina's eyes brightened up a bit, and Emma noticed how much younger and sweet she looked after just waking up. "Bring Emma some eggs and fruit. I'll share my bacon."

"No problem!" He looked so eager to serve them and it pulled at Emma's heart strings.

"Thanks, Henry. I could get used to this treatment," Emma lifted her eyebrows and snagged a slice of crisp bacon off of Regina's plate.

The boy beamed at them both and turned on his heel to rush back to the kitchen with his orders. "Oh, Henry wait!" Regina called after him. "Bring me some aspirin, please."


	9. Chapter 9

With Henry out of the room, things got quiet and awkward. Regina ate her toast and eggs and Emma stared at her plate, but only because she didn't want to actually look at Regina. There was a tension around them and neither woman wanted to confront it.

"Uh, Regina? Just so you know, I actually thought this was the guest room. Otherwise, I wouldn't have—."

"-Stripped down and crawled in?" Regina supplied the end of Emma's question, while they both knew the answer.

"Yeah, that. I was upset when I came up here and I wasn't really familiar with the layout so I tried a few doors, and I found, uh, the nursery," Emma felt embarrassed to admit that she'd been snooping, but it really shouldn't be a secret from her.

"So you did," Regina answered, her expression seemed firm and impassive, but Emma knew that when the other woman looked the most understated that usually meant she was experiencing an avalanche of emotions.

"It's really nice, super cute and tasteful. Did you pick the colors out new? It smelled like fresh paint…" Emma started to ramble; figuring her best course of action was to complete the interior decorating skills. She might strike a chord of some sort.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Regina shook her head and grabbed Emma's hand. Emma's lips formed an 'O' and she caught herself, realizing that she had been gesturing a little bit frantically for the hungover woman next to her to follow.

She swallowed and nodded, feeling even worse that she had somehow ruined the surprise. Emma felt glued into the pillow, but felt heated and antsy like she needed to go hide away. Regina gazed at her intensely and now took both her hands in hers.

"Do you—do you want the baby to live here?" Emma's lips twitched and it was hard to keep her voice steady even as she felt herself cracking mentally. She felt like it was a huge risk to ask such a vulnerable question, because Regina's answer would be so revealing.

Emma watched her with intensity, holding her breath. Regina's jaw tightened as she finished chewing. She dipped her head and pushed her hair behind her ear, and then took a maddeningly slow sip of her coffee.

Emma let out the breath she was holding when Regina blinked and started to speak. She looked just as frightened as Emma felt.

"I do. I want the baby to live here because not only will we be able to give the best care, we'll have privacy and peace. I had the nursery remodeled the day after you told me our news, dear," Regina seemed to be holding her breath after she spoke too.

"That makes the most sense," Emma agreed, she found her thoughts racing. Did Regina want her to live there too? 

"Mom!" Henry busted in and then took a step back, realizing he was being entirely too loud. He could sense the tension in the room and his mothers were turned toward each other talking quietly. "Ma, here's your food! And Mom, here's your aspirin."

Emma twisted in bed, relieved for the interruption, but still feeling entirely like she didn't have a full set of answers. "Thanks, so much Henry. This is really special."

He smiled brightly at the compliment and moved around the bed to give the aspirin over to Regina. "The breakfast was absolutely delicious. I'm so glad you have the gift for cooking."

"Yep, talent and a good teacher," Emma agreed as she talked around a mouthful of cinnamon oatmeal. "You're lucky that cooking skills aren't genetic."

She winked then, and felt more in her element than she had all morning, although she was still in Regina's bed, in Regina's home and pregnant with Regina's baby. She shivered lightly with want, and she felt the threat of tears prick behind her eyes.

"Oh, Moms…um, Grandma knows Emma's here and she's downstairs. She wants to talk, but I told her I was making you breakfast in bed. She said she'd wait to come up until you finished," Henry dropped the bomb with a false cheerfulness, full well knowing he should have mentioned it first instead of last.

Emma suddenly lost her appetite, and let her spoon fall back to her plate half-heartedly. She looked to Regina for strength and saw an evil glint in her eye and a crazy smile blooming on her lips.

"Thank you, Henry. Yes, perhaps you should send Snow on up. Offer her some breakfast, don't be rude," Regina's tone was cool and collected, which made Emma worry a bit more frantically. What was she thinking?

"Okay, will do!" Henry was nothing but a ball of energy. He disappeared down the stairs, and Emma started to get up, but she felt Regina's nails dig into her wrist.

"What are you doing? Mom is here and while I do want to work things out, I hardly wanted to tackle it first thing in the morning. Leave it to Mary Margaret to be persistent!" Emma tried to pull away again; her main concern was to find her pants.

Regina hissed out a calming 'sshhh' to quiet Emma, and tugged her a bit more forcefully back into position.

"Finish your breakfast, Emma. We may have been in her home last night, but now she is in mine and uninvited at that. She can wait to ruin our Mother's day for a few more minutes."

Realization dawned on Emma and she scoffed at Regina's audacity. She wanted Snow to march right on up there and catch them in bed together. Emma knew that her mother, having heard about the circumstances resulting in the pregnancy, had probably lain awake all night traumatized and unwittingly thinking about it. Regina knew it too, and her pride and dignity had taken quite a hit, so perhaps the most effective way to gain the upper hand would be to scare Mary Margaret away with a physical display.

Emma pushed her plate back on the tray and Regina took it and sat it on the nightstand along with her own. She then turned back to Emma and scooted closer, her eyes straying down to Emma's chest, nothing but a very thin white tank top covered her. Regina could see the outline of her dark nipples beneath the fabric and she started to feel warmth spread down her spine as specific scenarios started to run through her mind. The temptation was growing stronger.

"You want my mom to see us in bed together," Emma stated the obvious, but her voice sounded a bit more confrontational then she meant too.

Regina didn't deny it; in fact, she tried to justify it.

"Need I remind you, that mistake or no, you came into my bed and haven't felt the need to vacate it up until now. Also, you were the one who suggested we make believe at being a couple. This is the perfect opportunity."

Emma wondered when exactly she had suggested that and why Regina looked so scandalized at the thought. She remembered at the doctor's office she'd suggested they let everyone assume they were lesbians to avoid questioning. Now Regina was hinting she wanted to make out in front of Emma's mom.

Emma wasn't going to allow it. If Regina did care for her in that way, anything that happened between them from here on out would be because they both wanted it for the right reasons. Not to perv out in front of Snow White.

"I wasn't suggesting make believe," Emma said and dropped her voice to a near whisper.

"But…" Regina's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot upwards almost to her hairline. Emma had never seen her so stricken looking. It was unbearable. "…Your pirate…Hook, what about him?"

Here it was. The moment that Emma had to admit to herself, let alone, Regina: how she really felt about her boyfriend.

"Here's the thing, Regina…" Emma winced as she realized how terrible a person it made her sound. "When I said we could be pretend lesbians, I wasn't really honest about the 'pretend' part. If anything, my relationship with Hook is the fake one. I'm just going through the motions with him. I don't want him, not really. With you…I feel…more."

A breathy gasp escaped Regina's lips and she searched Emma's eyes to read the rest of the emotions she conveyed silently. "It makes sense then…why we were able to conceive with magic. You wanted it too."

Emma felt a bit foggy; she didn't know what to think. They both heard footsteps approaching on the stairs, and they were a bit heavier and slower than Henry's.

Snow had decided she'd given them enough time.

"What are we going to tell her?" Emma asked. She felt confused and frantic once again. The urge to bolt from Regina's bed was so strong, but she realized it would look even worse if she were to get out now. Her pants were nowhere in view.

"I'm not telling her anything," Regina pointedly looked down at her nails, and then blankly at Emma.

There Snow stood in the half-open doorway. Her eyes were red-rimmed and there were dark circles under her eyes. She stared openly at the two women sitting up in bed together. Thankfully, they were both clothed.

Emma shied away, pulling the covers up a bit around herself, while Regina looked anywhere but at Snow. "Did you stop by to wish us a happy mother's day?"

Snow stayed silent for a minute. It was clear she wanted to know what was going on between them, but part of her didn't want to know. She looked torn.

"Yes…I did. I… had some time to think and I wanted to apologize for some of the comments I made last night," Snow paused, waiting for a reaction, but when none came from either woman she continued in a new direction. "Oh, Emma, honey. Please come home…I don't want you or the baby to feel unwelcome. I made a mistake in that. What's done is done no matter how it happened and who's involved. Uh, Regina…you're also welcome, but…I know you won't want to come over very often so it's probably best if…."

Emma steeled herself and held up a hand for her mother to just stop talking. Regina had that blank downcast look on her face again. Emma didn't like how Mary Margaret included Regina as an afterthought. She was still trying to protect herself.

"Mom, really? As you can see I'm completely comfortable right here," Emma purposely sought out Regina's hand with her own and wrapped her left arm around Regina's shoulders. She couldn't believe she was doing it, but it had the desired effect on Snow. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and Emma sounded as equally hopeful as she did bitter.

"We've got a nursery set up and everything. I think it will be a lot easier for…us… if you stay at home with your happy little family, and I will stay here with mine."

"That's outrageous! Emma, Regina is not your family…she did a horrible thing to you and now she's brainwashed you," Snow sucked in a deep breath. She looked like she knew she was insulting Regina in her own sanctuary, but she didn't care.

"Okay, the show is over. I'm done. If you can't believe that I'm happy with Regina, Henry and our new child, then there's no way I can convince you. Just go home, and enjoy the time with Dad and Neal."

Emma rustled the sheets with her legs as she turned over and buried her face against Regina's chest. She felt Regina stiffen in surprise for only the briefest of the moments before she was wholly and warmly enveloped by her arms.

"I hope you enjoyed the breakfast that Henry made," Regina said haughtily, and victorious smirk she sported was audible in her voice. Emma listened as Snow turned around and left without giving a comeback reply. She pulled back from their hug, and lifted her neck to place a thankful kiss on Regina's cheek.

She heard Regina hum and it spurred her on, she kissed her cheek again, and pressed her body closer, and now acutely aware of her chest was rubbing freely against the solidity of Regina's. The rough brush of Emma's tank top up against the warm silkiness of Regina's poorly buttoned pajamas felt instantly stimulating.

"Mmm," Emma moaned appreciatively up against Regina's ear as she took a deep breath and settled her weight half on top of her. Regina relaxed beneath her, sinking down into the mattress and letting her head rest on the pillows.

The position change opened up a nice expanse of Regina's neck to Emma's hungry mouth, and she kissed her again on the spot just below her ear. She lathed her tongue over it, and sucked lightly. The surge of sensation caused Regina to thread her fingers into Emma's hair and apply a bit of pressure to the back of head. Emma took the hint and kissed again, giving her neck a little nip and then licking it soothingly. The feelings took over; it was too good and Emma couldn't stop herself from wanting more.

She tore away from Regina's neck and aligned her mouth over Regina's, breathing the same air for a long ragged moment until Regina pushed her lips up while forcibly pressing Emma's head down and crushing their mouths together in a rough, messy kiss that announced the repressed want and passion between them.

They were both fighting against the urgency they felt to escalate things and give and take more from one another. Emma wanted her chance to enjoy Regina, and take her time. She wanted something softer and slower than they'd had before. Regina shifted again beneath the covers, she spread her legs and Emma shifted her bare legs in between Regina's purposefully and intently grinding her hips against her.

"Emma…" Regina hissed it like a warning as she broke free from their heated kiss. "I don't think we should be doing this."

"Why the hell not?" Emma said breathlessly, rocking against Regina nice and hard. She watched her gorgeous face with delight as Regina reacted to the prickles of pleasure running through her body. She was so expressive like this, and Emma wanted to see everything. She wanted to make Regina's body sing loudly underneath her own.

Regina fought her natural desire and dug her fingernails into Emma's hips and pushed her away. Emma groaned and sat back on her heels, while Regina scrambled to sitting. She pulled her knees up to her chest, effectively blocking out Emma if she tried anything else.

"I know…" Emma looked away, blushing. The arousal she felt hadn't subsided at all. If anything she ached more with frustration from being interrupted. "You love Robin, and you're not the Evil Queen anymore. That was just a weird thing that happened…"

"No, no…that's not it," Regina tried to correct her instantly.

"What then? My mom isn't giving us an audience so it's not worth it? That's sick," Emma spat out the words. Her anger stemmed from the perceived rejection.

Regina took a breath, and felt a shudder rip through her aching chest.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma watched Regina closely. She opened her eyes wide and bit her lip as she struggled to get her emotions under control. Not knowing whether any comfort she offered would be accepted or appreciated, Emma struggled to find something to do with her hands.

She wanted Regina to tell her what was wrong, but take her time. She had seen the mostly aloof woman shut down from time to time, and occasionally had the privilege of experiencing the full depth of her emotion.

Regina took a few deep breaths, and focused on Emma as a forced, tight smile appeared on her face. She swallowed and blew out a long exhale through pursed lips.

"Regina, if you're still feeling bad about the whole non-consensual thing…" Emma trailed off and watched her own finger fiddle with the now wrinkled bedsheets. She gathered her strength and raised her head in earnest, "I promise that I want this..."

Her chin wrinkled, "A lot actually." She gave Regina a shy smile and then frowned and turned her face back toward the bed. The room was quiet and tense, and felt darker despite the sunshine spilling in through the blinds. Emma felt the bed shift as Regina moved closer, then the soft brush of her fingers affectionately push a stray strand of hair away from her face and tuck it securely behind her ear.

"It's…more than that," Regina started to speak, but her voice hitched with hesitance and she struggled to explain through her shame. "Our…event from the past affected me in a substantial way that was quite horrible…for others at least."

Emma's eyes shot up in confusion. "Do you mean the pregnancy? Because, yeah, that's pretty huge for both of us, but I wouldn't call it horrible."

"No, Emma…I'm afraid that after we…after the conception…when you used magic to disappear and I became obsessed with finding the beautiful blonde witch who had escaped….It was a strange time, and it's even stranger still to know that altered history only started after your adventure into the past."

"I don't understand… you went looking for me?" Emma asked in confusion. The time travel had really affected things more than she could have possibly had the forethought to predict.

"I did," Regina nodded as her expression changed from hard to stoic and remote. "In a word, I was furious that you had bested me in my own bed at that."

She felt far away from Emma as if her memories of the past had removed her from the present warmth of the bed. She didn't offer further information, but Emma pressed.

"What did you do?"

Regina's gaze flickered back to Emma, her arms lay limp in her lap and her shoulders were slumped over. "I had every young blonde woman that my guards could find in the Kingdom removed from their homes and villages and brought to me."

"Oh..." Emma didn't want to guess what became of them.

"It was incredibly frustrating that my search proved fruitless, and I knew you had the power to change your appearance so at times I became overly paranoid."

"What does that mean?" Emma was thinking in terms of the Evil Queen's mindset and she could guess at the answer. She shuddered involuntarily, and closed her eyes to fight the sickening feeling crawling up her spine. This time her acute nausea had nothing to do with morning sickness.

"It means I didn't stop with blondes…if anyone: children, men, old ladies stood out to me on the rounds I made to villages, I tried to strip them of their glamour. I was convinced you—you were hiding right under my nose laughing at my foolishness."

"Holy shit," Emma didn't know what to say, the implications she felt were unrivaled. This whole time she had thought her only problem was the pregnancy and her unsettling sexual feelings for Regina, but she was finding out to her horror that she was partially responsible for the torture and probably death of many people.

"There's more."

The dread filling Emma's sifted in slowly like a foul sludge, Regina was trembling now, and Emma could see her fists shaking in her lap. "Regina, it's a really fucked up situation, but you don't have to tell me if it's too much."

"I wanted you,' Regina explained simply. "I couldn't find you or have you so I tried to be satisfied with…substitutes, but nothing compared and I took my frustration out on innocents."

Feeling dumbfounded and speechless, Emma remained quiet. She couldn't reconcile her feelings for the person she called Regina with the past version. She wrapped her arms around her herself and clutched her ribs. She chanced a look at Regina, but she was looking toward the window, unable to meet her eyes.

"Snow is right, we shouldn't be readying ourselves to raise a baby together," Regina said quietly.

"Why are you saying that? Don't say that? There isn't any other option, you're kind of stuck with me," Emma panicked. She didn't know how to feel about the situation. She hadn't had time to process what Regina was telling her.

Then Regina was laughing coldly, the mirthless tone jolted Emma from her reverie. "What is it that you want from me exactly? How can you still wish to share my bed knowing that I forced you into the most horrific acts of violence? Do you want that still? Are you perverted in that way?"

Emma couldn't keep up with the questions. Her heart pulled her towards Regina, but her mind was screaming at her to get some distance and perspective. She had so much to deal with, and just when she thought things were going smoothly, everything changed and crumbled. It was the story of her life; she mused and let out her own cold chuckle.

Running her hands over her bare arms, she felt agitated and cranky. "I have to go, Regina. I need some space."

"Just as I thought," Regina whispered, her face crumpled into a mask of pain before she cleared her throat and practically leapt from the bed. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Emma rose slowly; she took a hedging step toward the bathroom, and lifted her hand to knock. She didn't want to leave on such bad terms. It was becoming a recurring pattern as of late. She heard an echoed and broken sob from within, followed immediately by the sound of the facet cranking on and a torrent of running water to cover it up.

She backed away from the door, and found her discarded and crumpled jeans and bra in the hamper. When she had dressed and used the bathroom down the hall to freshen up, she went downstairs and found a huge mess in the kitchen. Apparently, Henry was becoming a quite the cook, but he hadn't gotten the memo about the cleaning up part of the process.

She wanted to get out of Regina's house as soon as possible, but she wanted to see Henry. If anything, he was testament to Regina's goodness, and she needed the visceral reminder that the woman she cared so much for had changed completely.

"Hey Henry," Emma stayed in the doorway of the living room. Henry was engrossed in video game. "Thanks for breakfast."

"No problem, thanks for being my mom," Henry didn't take his eyes off of the video game. "Want to go to the beach later? It's nice out today and I thought we could do something outside."

It was Sunday, and Emma didn't have any pressing plans, but she couldn't handle or subject Regina to more motherly fun given their current state of affairs.

"Yeah, how about we take a raincheck on the beach? I'd love to go, but today I have some errands I have to run. Last night was kind of long, you know, so I want to take it easy," Emma glanced around trying not to let Henry pick up on her uneasiness.

She spotted her battery drained cell phone lying on the dining room table, and remembered Hook's insistent calls from the evening before. She definitely wouldn't be taking it easy knowing she'd have to deal with him sooner rather than later.

"Sounds good," Henry tore his face away from his game to spare her a glance. He took in her reddened face and tangled hair. His nose crinkled up in displeasure. "You know you can take a shower here since you're going to live here now."

Emma inhaled as a pain radiated throughout her chest. He sounded just as passive aggressive as his mother. She searched her head to for a decent reply, but came up short. "Nah, I'm good. I'll see you soon."

"Okay, bye."

Emma put her head down and opened the front door. She walked straight out to her car and silently cursed that she had left her keys inside Regina's. She didn't chance to turn around and look up at the bedroom window, but her neck felt heated like she was being stared at. She wrenched open the door of the bug and sighed in relief that the keys were still in the ignition. She settled in and slammed her head back on the seat. Thankfully, her car was a sanctuary of sorts and she always felt better and safer when she was in it.

Her reprieve was brief.

"Swan!"

She turned her head and cracked open her eye in the sun, she shot up in her seat when she saw Hook grinning like a fool from one foot away.

"You scared me!" Emma put a hand to her chest in shock. "Where were-? Were you hiding in the bushes outside Regina's?"

"Aye, love. I followed your mother here this morning when you never answered your talky box. I've been waiting!" His grin grew wider, and he leaned over the doorway with a mischievous and creepily proud expression.

"Ah, yeah. I have been meaning to talk to you, but maybe we could talk later?" Emma tried trying to sound exhausted and busy so he'd take the hint that now wasn't a good time. Of course, it was all lost on a man who waited up all night and spent the morning stalking her from the shrubbery.

"Don't you have something you'd like to tell me? A bundle of news to share, perhaps?" He winked at her and she stuttered in confusion and fear. Her thoughts drifted to Hook's calls that started coming to her phone shortly after she and Regina had left her parents.

"What did my mother tell you exactly?" Emma rubbed her temple to fight off the headache that suddenly came on strong.

"She told me about the baby! I must say I'm quite hurt that you didn't share the news personally, but I'm willing to overlook it. I've always longed to be a father, and now you and I will raise a mighty and steadfast young lad or lass."

Her jaw dropped and she covered her mouth to hide her petrified anger. She stared straight ahead, unable to look at the man who was now trying to awkwardly bend down and hug her body inside the car without ripping up the upholstery with his metal appendage.

She felt him plant a wet kiss on her cheek, but her eyes and mind immediately flew to the second story window that overlooked the drive. She caught a movement of curtain, and realized that Regina was indeed watching the scene below.

"Hook! Stop it! Killian get back," Emma shoved him and raised her voice to get his attention. She wanted to strangle her mother. How could she have lied and told Hook that the baby was his? "Maybe you should save the celebration. I don't know how to say this exactly, but here goes: You do know how babies are made, right?"

Hook stopped his cooing and straightened up beside the car, putting a brief damper on his jolly mood. "Yes, what kind of folly of a question is that?"

"Because um…while it's true that I am pregnant, you and I have never done the thing that causes that so…" Emma wanted to crawl into the bushes that Hook had just crawled out of and never leave. She was so embarrassed she couldn't look at him.

"I…know we've never had sex, but—," he trailed off abruptly, blinking rapidly as if the logic was just now kicking into gear in his ratty head.

"Right, so why do you think you're the father of my child?" Emma craned her neck and bent it forward as if she could lead him to the conclusion.

"Magic," Hook replied confidently. "Your mother said the baby was conceived with magic, and I must say that my little seamen are strong swimmers, if you would have bothered to get to know them, you wouldn't have needed to steal them by use of sorcery. "

"No…that's just gross," Emma shook her head trying to clear it of the images in mind. "I'm sure you would have given your sperm freely, that's not the issue here. The fact is that you're not the father of the baby."

"But how is that? I know you would never cheat on me, your spirit is as pure as they come."

"Okay, so again I didn't cheat on you, but something happened when we traveled into the past," Emma took a deep breath. She realized that the poor guy really was exactly that oblivious to the situation. She felt another spur of anger flare up against her mother.

Had she really had the audacity to not only tell about the pregnancy, but lead the man to believe that it was his? She couldn't believe it. It was such a reckless move and now she had to be the one to crush his hopes. Snow's actions were cruel and selfish.

"The baby was conceived with a magic spell, that's true, but I am certain that you are not the father," Emma felt her body tense with anticipation. "There still has to be sex involved to conceive even with magic."

Hook sobered up and his eyes seemed to turn gray and his hands began to shake. He rubbed at his chin out of nervousness and Emma could plainly see the emotions beginning to brew under the surface. He took a step back and paced in the driveway. Emma hopped out of the car and stood up to face him. She hated that they were doing this in front of Regina's house, but there would be no reasoning or delaying the inevitable.

Hook's lips were moving and Emma could tell he was working himself up to ask the question he had to know. She hung her head and waited for him to hit her with it.

"If not I…if it wasn't us…then what fellow did you couple with?" His voice was shaky and high pitched. It tore at Emma's heart. "You say this happened when we journeyed into the past, but we were inseparable for the duration…I can't…who did you have sex with? Who is the father of your spawn?"

Emma opened her mouth once and shut it, her face frozen and eyes wide. She tried again, and managed to reveal the name:

"Regina."


	11. Chapter 11

Emma bunched her fists and bit her lip, she turned her face away because she couldn't bear to look at Hook's furrowed brow and hurt expression. If he started to cry and streaks of eyeliner stained his face she would lose it for sure.

"What? But…" his voice trailed off, as if the idea of Regina and sex and a baby didn't add up. It didn't, but here they were: living with this new reality…trying. "The Evil Queen and you? I see…. you jest, Swan? You mean Henry…"

"No, not Henry," Regina's voice piped up from across the driveway. Emma lifted her head abruptly and blinked at the sight of Regina. Her hair was dripping wet; she was wearing yoga pants and a fitted workout shirt. Emma blinked again. Shit, she thought, Regina had heard the whole conversation. She had been watching from her bedroom window at the scene below.

Hook stumbled backward over his boots. The poor man had just had his world turned upside down, and Regina, though intimidating in the best of circumstances, looked so mom-ish and ordinary without the wall of her usual attire.

"Kindly get off of my driveway and away from my baby," Regina's voice was impassioned and firm, and Emma pushed her hair back over her shoulder and leaned on the bug for support. Regina had just called the baby hers. Unless she had meant Emma herself, in which case she really needed to sit down. As a bonafide commitment phobe this whole scary overwhelming situation was her worst nightmare.

She didn't have time to contemplate as the tension between Hook and Regina was quickly mounting. Hook had misplaced anger, or perhaps it was placed and he looked more than a bit unhinged, unwilling to slink away in quiet acceptance.

"Regina," Emma warned, she looked between the two of them, circling each other. Regina flexed her hands, and Emma knew that meant fireballs or kinetic blasts of magic were imminent. "Hook was just leaving. Our conversation is over."

"Really, Swan, that's all the time you're going to give me? I think I'm owed a better explanation than some shoddy story about time travel and magic sex," Hook scoffed and stomped forward. He tucked his chin and glared at Regina. She glared back and raised her hands getting on the offense.

"Don't zap him, Gawd, Regina. You have to understand that he's upset. He's in love with me!" Emma felt her anger getting the best of her. She hated that Regina looked to resort to violence immediately, but she also understood the strange bitter rivalry. Or at least she understood enough of it to know she didn't know the whole of their muddied history.

Perhaps she had kept herself in the dark on the matter on purpose. "All this stress isn't really good for the baby," Emma threw the statement at Regina like a weapon. She knew the immediate effect anything having to do with the baby had on the other woman. Like clockwork, Regina's eyes softened as soon as her attention as pulled toward Emma. A moment later she lowered her hand and hunched her shoulders in shame.

Hook puffed his chest and acted haughty, his cold smirk pissed Emma off to no end, but Regina was still and her anger was eking away. Emma could feel it. For good measure she placed her open palm over her belly and widened her eyes.

Regina drew in a breath, and Emma noticed her eyes were red rimmed as evidence from her recent bout of tears.

"You had better go. Now! If Emma wishes to speak to you further on this matter than she will contact you. Until then, mind yourself, and stay away from us," the thick hatred Regina had for the man was pronounced. Emma kept her features schooled in a mask of indifference. Her position was obvious as she took a step toward Regina and put her head down.

Hook shouted his frustration, "You used magic to fuck my girlfriend, bloody hell!"

He jumped and kicked, his arms flailing ineffectually. His whole face was red as stormed away until he was just an out of place looking black coated silhouette racing up the side walk on the deserted residential street.

It took another moment, before Emma raised her head and looked at Regina. She was opening and closing her mouth and sucking in shallow breaths of air, her upper chest heaving violently as she hugged her arms to herself.

The wash of feeling, hitting Emma was insistent and pressing. How Regina could go from sheer menace to unabashed vulnerability in the blink of an eye never ceased to amaze her. "Um, do you need…?"

Regina nodded her brow knit tight and face puffy and red. Emma hated how much she wanted to hold her. Even knowing what she knew, she couldn't deny that her feelings for Regina had grown from a strange lull of abstract lust to strongly rooted solidarity and the desire to take care of the complicated woman.

It was frightening easily to wrap her arms around her and sway lightly. The press of her warm cheek and silky hair fluttering against her neck offered more comfort and a radiating feeling of promise than she feared she was offering to Regina.

"I…he…uh, we...all …just need more time, you know?" Emma drew in a breath and whispered the uncertain words into Regina's ear. She felt her shiver lightly and nod in response. Neither woman moved. Emma was afraid if she put more distance between them she'd have too much time to think and ponder on the sins Regina had committed in the past.

Regina pulled away suddenly, but didn't release the grip her hands had on Emma's shoulders, she smoothed her thumb over and over the swell of her shoulder. "I didn't want to hurt him…"

"You didn't," Emma quickly assured her, with a shake of her head.

"What I mean is…I did want to hurt him, but when you mentioned the baby it pulled me out of it. It helped me align my priorities," Regina was struggling to maintain eye contact, and Emma knew that for her speaking of her thoughts and feelings was incredibly difficult. She was really trying.

"I appreciate it, Regina…you have no idea. I can handle Hook. I got myself into this whole…relationship with him and it's my fault that things didn't end sooner," Emma cut herself off when she saw the look Regina was giving her.

"You don't need to explain. In fact, it made me realize I need to see Robin. I want to show you that I can be who you need," Regina was deadly serious, and she spoke softly. Emma felt her lip quivering as her breath hitched.

"Damn, pregnancy hormones," she let the breath whoosh out of her in a rush and it was her turn to fall against Regina to seek comfort. She was starting to get the sense that this is who they were to each other: a delicately balanced scale with a bit of need, a bit of forgiveness and a lot of hope. She unconsciously rubbed her tear wet face against Regina's chest. She smelled fresh from the shower with an overlying lingering scent of magic and Emma pulled her in tighter.

They were solid and still and worst of all, enjoying one another's closeness in a way that made Emma want to scream from the heavy dose of intimacy, but she had no intention of pulling back. Guilty, she realized she wanted to fall in deeper.

The feeling and ease of being back in Regina's bed overwhelmed Emma. She thirsted for just another sip of feeling carefree and hazy and letting everything happen and be easy. She wanted slack on the tightrope she walked, but of course, the rational part of her mind- the sometimes broken place in her brain- told her to watch herself, and be careful.

Things were not going to be easy. But did they have to be this hard?

Emma broke the hug first this time. She shuddered as the warm breeze replaced the places on her skin where Regina had been touching her. She swiped at her eyes and pulled her palm over her mouth to ease the tightness in her facial muscles.

With the distance, as Emma had expected, came rational thought suddenly unhindered by the powerful influence of touch.

"I'm going to get going, uh, take a walk alone or something," Emma blushed, feeling weak and exhausted as she came down from the adrenaline rush that had comprised her entire morning.

"Let me get you a bottle of water," Regina sounded off kilter and clumsy. "I mean, it's warmer out today than it has been and I read that it's very easy to get dehydrated while pregnant."

"Okay," Emma nodded and followed Regina back up the steps and inside the house. They were back to that strange logistical mundanity that seemed to allow them both to breathe, yet left unanswered questions hanging in the air. Did Regina expect Emma to come back to the house, or did she assume she'd go back to her room at the Charming's? As Regina pulled an ice cold bottle of Dasani from the door of the fridge and handed it to Emma they both spoke at once.

"Emma, tonight if you—."

"Should I—."

Emma uncapped the water and took an exaggerated swig, Regina couldn't fault her for opportune hydration that so happened to rend her non-verbal.

"I was going to say, Henry really enjoyed having you here, and it is Mother's day…perhaps tonight you would care to join us for dinner, and then…well, bring some of your things over…I can show you to the guest room and get you set up, unless…"

"Oh, okay…yeah…okay, yep," Emma rambled along in a sing song of notable discomfort, both women acting like they had grudging and nervous crushes on each other. Which they did, but this wasn't high school. This wasn't something that would go as quickly as it came on. They were old enough to be frank with their feelings, but damaged enough to be incapable of allowing for deep vulnerability.

"Maybe just another night," Emma added as a caveat to counter Regina's comment about the guest room. She couldn't tell her she wanted to extend their sleeping arrangement.

"Thank you, Emma."

"For what?" Emma turned toward the door, in a rush to get out of the house.

Regina tightened her shoulders and waved her hand vaguely through the air, "For this. Giving me a chance."

Henry muted Emma's reply by stomping into the kitchen and searching the fridge, "Emma, I thought you left! Wanna go to the beach now?"

Emma stopped and looked at him. He had asked her earlier when she hadn't been in the mood, but something had changed. A bit of the burden felt lifted. She found she did want to spend time with Henry. His unsolicited advice carried the simplicity of a child's views: he did have a way of making things seem lighter and easier is that way that eluded her at every turn with adults.

"Sure, kid, in fact, I was just going to head that way. You can tag along."

"Henry." Regina handed him two more bottles of water and smiled. "Both of you need to stay hydrated, especially at the beach the water reflects the sun…"

Regina was such a….mom.


	12. Chapter 12

"Make sure to rub the sunscreen into your armpits," Emma threw another flat stone into the water, as she kept one eye on Henry as he lathered up with SPF 50.

"I'm not going to get sunburned in my armpits," he challenged Emma's direction, but dutifully squirted out another dollop of white lotion for his armpits.

"Good, now the tops of your feet and your calves…and you have to wait 10 minutes for it to set before you go into the ocean," Emma repeated Regina's directions verbatim, even though both of them were present for the first lecture. "Neither one of us will want to deal if you come home with even a patch of pink on your foot…or armpit."

Henry sighed and squatted on the beach, picking up a bucket to fill with wet sand. "It's not even that hot out, and the water is super cold."

"Hey, no complaining," Emma rolled up her jeans and took off her shoes to wade along the shoreline. She felt the cold salt water numb her feet as it lapped gently against the sand. She squinted into the sun and stared out across the vast horizon. Despite her toes feeling numb, it felt nice to be outside and enjoying the fresh air. It was probably good for the baby, or at the least she felt less insolate and claustrophobic.

"Mom said she's making roast beef and mashed potatoes for dinner, so we should probably hurry and get your stuff from grandma's when we're done staring at the Ocean," Henry turned his sand bucket over and patted the bottom so that a nicely formed pillar for his sand castle jetted upright on the beach.

"I never said I was moving in, 'moving in'."

Emma waded out a little deeper turning her attention to the shimmer on the water and tiny whitecaps produced from a sudden breeze.

"Yeah, well, Mom wants you to, so she pretty much always gets her way about stuff like that."

Emma pushed the stray hair out of her face and grimaced into the wind, she whipped around to face Henry, "She told you that?"

Henry scrambled onto his hands and knees and started scooping more sand into a pile; he spoke casually as his attention focused on excavating a large circle around the pile for his moat. "No, but she's been really excited for like a month and when she started redoing the baby's room, I kind of figured something was up. I thought she might be thinking about adopting another baby, but then when I found out that you and moms were…doing stuff, things finally started to make sense."

"Oh," Emma suddenly felt heavy, exhausted and dirty. She bent her knees and sat down in the wet sand. She couldn't bother to care that her ass was going to be wet and covered in it, and her toes were reddened and numb, but the pain was satisfying in a way. "First off, I know you heard way too much about it the other night, but um…if you have any questions about that part feel free to ask…Regina."

"Look I know how babies are made, and mom already had a talk with me about wet dreams, throw magic in and I totally get it. Besides I read about you two in my book…some of it at least, it started to get gross," Henry dropped all of this information as he busied himself with making his castle. Emma's mouth was still catching flies for a good minute until her brain caught up with her heart.

'Wet dreams?' she thought suddenly seized by abstract reality set whole by the realization that she was about to have a teenager and an infant simultaneously.

Her next thought came as a surprise as well: that she was so glad Regina was by her side in this adventure and she felt impressed that Regina had talked to Henry about sex, or at least wet dreams.

Henry had stopped the work on his castle and had crossed his arms to warm his wet hands in his armpits. He was probably exfoliating off all of the sunscreen with his sandy fingers, but Emma wasn't about to tell him to reapply.

"Emma, don't worry, I know that when you live with us, I have to give you and mom privacy, and all that," Henry shook his head and lifted his eyebrows as if he was trying to wipe unpleasant thoughts out of his head.

"Okay, I appreciate that…privacy is good, but your mom and I aren't like a…couple," Emma found that the word 'couple' sounded foreign and she had a difficult time wrapping her tongue around it. She felt the water seeping through her jeans slowly and wetting her ass soggy.

"Yeah, I mean that's not what grandma calls you two…I mean I know it's not the same with mom as you are with Hook, but…I don't know. The book didn't really have a name for it either…"

Emma didn't want anyone speculating on her relationship or lack thereof with Regina, she had to interrupt Henry.

"What are you talking about the book? The Evil Queen is in the book, but I'm not in it except for like two pages when I was a baby…"

Henry stood up and wiped the sand off his torso, he was shivering and his teeth were chattering a bit. The ocean breeze had turned down right freezing. He picked out a towel from his beach bag and wrapped it around his shoulders. Emma only felt a sense of impending doom when she looked out at the horizon and saw dark clouds starting to gather and roll in the distance.

"Maybe we should head home? We could help mom cook if she'll let us…its fun," Henry was avoiding answering her question.

Emma picked at her salt braised hair. It felt sticky. She stood up with a huff, and looked down the long deserted beach. She spotted the familiar silhouette of Hook staggering along in a zig zag down the beach. He was heading towards them, and even from a great distance Emma could tell he was schwasted.

"Yep, let's go get my clothes real quick and then we'll go ho—to your place- and get cleaned up. The beach is kind of a bust today, kid," Emma picked up the bag, and fished her car keys from her pocket. She wrapped her arm around Henry's shoulders, and pulled the towel around him tighter.

Emma spent moment thinking about the book, and of how it must have changed to include the story about Emma and the Evil Queen. According to Regina their encounter had changed more than they realized about the past. Funny that Regina had spent so much time looking for her, and she'd been inadvertently hiding in Snow White's womb during that time.

Henry must be so confused. It was the average fairytale story of how his parents first met to put it mildly: sex, magic, time travel and pregnancy. Any additional sex education talks were definitely going to be left up to Regina to explain.

"You're going to have to show me the book tonight."

Henry looked down the beach. Hook had caught his attention, "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Shh! Henry, leave him alone… he looks like he wants to be alone," Emma hushed him and worriedly started pushing them up the embankment. The last thing she needed was another confrontation especially in front of Henry.

"I don't think so. He looks like he really wants to talk to you," Henry replied, skeptical of her assessment.

"Yeah, I don't want to talk to him, let's go," Emma felt her cheeks warm from her cowardice, but Henry didn't protest any further and they made it to the car without any additional Hook-related confrontation.

The belongings gathering at the Charming's had miraculously gone without confrontation as well. Only because Emma chickened out and sent her son in to pack her a bag of clothes, citing the fact that it was Mother's Day as her guilt-trip bargaining chip.

He was blushing and forlorn when he emerged from the apartment.

"How'd it go?" She tightened her grip on the steering wheel and asked in a false upbeat tone.

"Please don't ever make me do that again," Henry threw her lumpy duffle into the back seat and climb in the passenger side to stare out the window. He mumbled something about refusing to go through her underwear drawer, and she floored it back to Regina's.

It was just late afternoon when they arrived and Emma stalled in the driveway for a bit, letting Henry run along inside. She steeled herself and grabbed her duffle. Opening it up, she rooted through: jeans, wrinkled shirts, no underwear or bras. It served her right; she contemplated as she walked back up the path and knocked on the door.

Regina opened it up and took in Emma's appearance. "You don't have to knock anymore, you should feel free to come and go as you please…if –if you're comfortable with that."

"Not yet," Emma admitted feeling shy and uncomfortable. "Can I take a shower?"

"Of course. Henry's in the hall bath so you can use mine," Regina's eyes flittered down to the duffle and her expression hinted that she was pleased. "Go ahead, up the stairs- I trust you now know which bedroom is mine?"

"Yeah…I figured it out."

Regina looked like she was about to say something important, but the moment passed over her features and instead she covered and said, "I'll bring up some clean towels in a few minutes."

Emma could feel Regina staring at her wet, sandy ass as she walked up the stairs. She thought about turning around to ask to borrow some underwear, but clamped her mouth shut and continued to climb. She just needed a hot shower to clear her head. Maybe being clean would keep her from doing anything embarrassing. Doubtful.

After waiting for a couple minutes in the bathroom for towels, Regina still hadn't appeared. Emma couldn't go another minute with salty hair and a sandy butt. She closed the door and stripped off her clothes, wincing as she heard grains of sand hit the towel. She'd have to sweep that up later.

The water was hot, soft and relaxing. She had been seeking this kind of peace and relaxation at the beach, but little had she known all she had to do was step under the heated spray of Regina's shower. She used more soap than necessary and lathered up her hair with a whole handful of shampoo. Somehow extra soap equated to being extra clean. That's what she needed.

Emma didn't want to be greedy, so after she was all shiny and rinsed thoroughly she reluctantly turned off the spray and spent another minute standing in the steamy shower stall. She peeked out, having momentarily forgotten that there weren't any towels. It felt nice to have her clothes off.

Regina had a large mirror over her sink and she must use some sort of steam resistant cleaner because the mirror was still clear. Emma combed her hair out with her fingers, letting it drip all over the floor. Even though she was only in the early stages of pregnancy, this time around she was noticing the subtle physical changes. Her breasts were swollen and perpetually tender. Her lower abdomen had started to descend just a little bit, and her damned ankles were swollen.

She felt like sun ripened fruit dripping with warm morning dew…

As she was pondering her more esoteric thoughts the door tentatively swung open behind her, and she caught sight of Regina with an arm full of towels. For a second Emma saw Regina's startled expression change in the mirror's reflection. She saw her eyes drag down over Emma's wet hair and down her naked back, all the way past her ass (which the pregnancy hadn't affected at all and it was still looking bangin' thankyouverymuch) and then down each of her legs before flitting up to look at her naked chest as reflected in the mirror. Backwards from Regina's view, but still impressive.

Emma stood there frozen. She didn't even think to shirk away or try and cover her nudity.

It was only a moment of looking before Regina stammered in apology and slammed the door shut far too forcefully. She forgot to leave the towels in the room. Emma felt her breath quicken, and her body light up like she was on fire. It was only for a moment, true, but the dark desire in Regina's eyes instantly turned Emma to mush. Her mouth watered, and she stood, staring wide eyed in the mirror unable and unwilling to move.

A minute went by.

The door swung open again and Regina walked into the steamy bathroom. She looked confident and conquering as she approached Emma from behind. Their eyes met in the mirror as Regina brazenly pushed the heavy wet hair off of Emma's shoulder. She kept their eyes locked together as her hands fell to Emma's naked hips and her lips fell to Emma's neck.

Emma felt weak in the knees; her hands flew out to catch herself on the counter. The action caused her hips to jet backwards against Regina's and her breasts to jiggle tantalizingly in Regina's view. She sucked her nip and hummed in appreciation at the taste of clean wet skin and Emma. Emma sucked in a shuddering breath and let her eyes slip shut.

She felt Regina slide her hands over her hips, tickling her stomach, never settling as she explored her, leaves a trail of sensation all over Emma: light and warm. Regina bit her neck and Emma stuttered out a moan as she turned around to face her.

Regina's expression wavered between sheer want and gentle questioning. Her eyes were hard and her lips were parted, she sneered and bumped Emma against the sink hard, her blunt nails dug into Emma's hips and she latched her lips over Emma's swallowing the startled breathy noises that she couldn't believe she was actually making. She sounded so desperate and needy, and lo and behold she fucking was.

She didn't realize how much she had missed this: Regina. Rough and hard against her lips, pressed fully clothes against her steamed and naked skin. She was being greedy sucking on Emma's lips, kneading her flesh. She broke away, only to lower her face to one of Emma's pink, tender nipples. Regina sucked the point into her mouth hungrily, her teeth scraped across the peak painfully, but Emma loved it. The natural tenderness combined with the sharp twist of pain had her wet between the legs and overly excited instantly.

She squeezed the other breast and muttered as she pushed Emma's cleavage together and sucked each nipple harder, back and forth, "you have no idea…how much… I still remember the feeling of that cock swelling between my legs when I merely looked at you… and then going inside it was...addictive."

Emma remembered it too, her neurons were being bombarded with overstimulation, her hormones had her floored, flooded and out of control. All she could do was let Regina ravish her, mouthing and whimpering, "More…please…Regina…"

Regina forced Emma's legs apart with a growl, and pushed her hand between them, "Turn around."

Emma complied, hastily stumbling as her feet wouldn't cooperate, she stumbled against the counter, catching her chest against her forearms and hanging on as she gave Regina her ass. She was facing the mirror and she could watch Regina's face, as well as feel her hands on her hips, squeezing her butt, and then dipping between her cheeks and lower, pressing against her sex.

"This…yes, I've been ...I need this…" Regina licked her lips and swallowed in anticipation, she looked tense, aroused and altogether glorious as she traced her cool fingers over Emma's most sensitive skin.

Emma rolled her hips backwards, giving her the go ahead; she was just a moment shy of begging to be fucked when she saw a shade of doubt cross Regina's eyes. Their eyes locked again in the mirror, and then a look of remorse and sordid realization sprouted upon Regina's face.

"Oh, my God… Emma, I'm so sorry…I can't believe I was about to…not again," Regina shook her head and started to cry as she backed away and wiped her hands on her thighs shamefully. She dashed out of the bathroom, leaving Emma confused and painfully aroused, leaning against the bathroom sink.

She still didn't have a towel.


	13. Chapter 13

Emma steadied herself for another minute and groaned in aggravation. There was no one besides Regina who could turn her on like that. She caught sight of the red flush on her neck and chest, and the angry redder mark of the fresh hickey where her neck met shoulder.

She thought about hopping back in the shower and cranking the dial to freezing, but an unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. She had to talk to Regina immediately. Taking a deep breath to steel herself she cracked the bathroom door and first spotted a discarded stack of towels on the floor.

Honestly, she didn't care about her nudity, but it obvious that when Regina saw her she snapped and couldn't keep her hands to herself. In an effort to pay her dues and have some semblance of a conversation, she picked up a towel and wrapped it around her chest.

Regina hadn't gone far. She looked small and curled in on herself, sitting by the window on her chaise. Her forehead rested on her knees and her hair hung like a curtain over her face.

"Regina?" Emma took a few steps across the carpeted floor, ever mindful not to drip any fluids onto it. She'd already recreated the beach scene on the bathroom floor. Regina clasped her hands around her knees and seemed to burrow in on herself, creating a literal wall. A wall to keep Emma out.

Standing there in towel, chest still flushed, and body still caught up in and wanting to continue the brief but pleasurable activities they had started in the bathroom, Emma realized this was going to be a harder conversation than anticipated. She had no idea what kind of mood Regina was in or what she was thinking and feeling.

"Emma…" Regina started off, lifting her head just enough to peer over her knees. She shook her head and looked as though she was struggling to verbalize her thoughts. "I can't explain it…the memories of the past 30 years…the altered history…it all faded in and mixed up my memories, and I'm so sorry if I hurt you."

This was all wrong. Regina had to get over this guilt, she was so blinded by her duplicitous thoughts, feelings and memories she couldn't see what was right in front of her. Emma kept the edge of her towel bunched tightly in her fist and carefully lowered herself to her knees. She gently reached out with her free hand and placed her hand on Regina's knee. The jerking startled reaction from the other woman made her drop it immediately.

"Emma…please, it isn't a good idea to touch me…right now. I'm still…processing."

She finally looked her in the eye, and the worry and fight in her deep brown eyes, caused Emma to go breathless. She cleared her throat and furrowed her brow, reprimanding herself for being so stupid.

"Um…I know this whole situation isn't…normal-," Emma started in a low voice, speaking as diplomatically as possible like she was negotiating a hostage situation.

"Normal," Regina laughed bitterly. "The reason I took so long to bring you a towel was because I was on the phone with Robin. He called and I was going to tell him about…everything, but he interrupted with some news of his own."

Emma sighed then, and quickly covered it with a rough sounding hiccup. "What?"

"Marian's pregnant."

Emma had opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Regina moved her feet anxiously, the scratching sound of her toes rubbing against the fabric of the chaise sounded loud in the stillness of the room.

"You mean she-?"

"She must have gotten that way the minute you brought her back…" Regina cried, her voice sounded a strange mixture of quiet resignation and faint accusation towards Emma. "I didn't get a chance to tell him about you."

"Oh, Regina…I'm sorry," Emma said with sincerity, realizing how it must feel for her. As she thought about it, her empathy turned to anger. It was like Regina had just warmed the jerk up until his dead wife showed back up. It was apparent he hadn't wasted any time worrying about the broken looking woman in front of her. "Asshole."

"It's not like I have any room to talk," Regina raised her face and swiped at her tears. She looked Emma up and down pointedly. Goosebumps prickled her skin as the last traces of water evaporated off. "I'm so sorry. What a mess! When I look at you, Emma, sometimes I see you as a mother and other times I…don't."

Her voice dropped low on the last word, and Emma pulled the towel around her tighter. She straightened her back and fought the ever present urge to touch Regina again.

She continued, "I lost control when I saw you. I was rough with you and pushed into the sink. I have to think about what you want and the baby. Gods…I could have hurt the baby."

She was worried about that? Emma wondered, blinking numbly. She shook her head and leaned forward to reassure her. "I'm not that fragile. I'm not going to break…you can be yourself with me. I promise I liked it—then – I liked it then and…I like it now."

The sun was going down, and the shadows changed on the floor interspersed with the golden light of dusk filtering through the blinds. Emma's heart felt heavy, she bit her lip, and felt unsure as to what to say as Regina hadn't given her any response to her confession.

Until she heard a shudder and then Regina turned her knees and faced the wall, avoiding Emma. The only indication that she was crying was the stuttering rise and fall of her shoulders.

"Hey, if you keep worrying about everything you're going to go crazy. Think of it like this: there is no past. There's only us…there's only this…forget regrets or life is yours to miss. No day…but today."

Regina turned around abruptly, her face crinkled in recognition, "Are you trying to make me feel better by quoting lyrics from 'RENT' to me?"

Emma's expression turned sheepish, "You're familiar with that musical then?"

Regina chuckled, and her lips formed a grudging smile. "A musical set in the 80's about the preciousness of time? Yes, I'm quite familiar."

"Huh, you probably like 'Cats' too," Emma replied with a smile of her own, using the levity to milk the brief relief from the heaviness of the situation.

"I appreciate the costumes," Regina sniffed and looked Emma over once again. "Are you planning to put on clothing at some point?"

Emma shrugged and asked, "Henry packed my bag. I'm not sure what I've got in there."

She licked her lips and rose up from the floor slowly, carefully moving to sit next to Regina on the day bed leaving a healthy amount of distance between them. "I mean it though. Let's just take this one hurdle at a time. We don't know what's going to happen, and we already changed the past enough. Let's just do what feels right for us now."

"I want to. Something changed in me…I don't know how to care for you, and I feel so…inadequate," Regina whispered it, she swung her legs over and placed her feet on the floor, pressing her palms down on either side of her thighs.

"What do you want?" Emma wondered. It had been her million dollar question for some time and asking it was hard. She worried Regina's guilt stemmed partially from feeling obligated to take Emma in. She feared if Regina was honest with her she'd admit she didn't want this and Emma would be left out in the cold: rejected.

With a resolute nod of her head and a moment of contemplation, Regina finally turned her head to face her. Her eyes were wide open when she said, "I want to do right by you, but I don't know how."

The answer was better than Emma had hoped for. Still a bit vague, but Emma felt a surge of confidence and a dash of hope that they would work it out.

"Do you want me to um, show you?" Emma swallowed thickly as her eyes focused on Regina's lips.

"Show me what?" Regina asked in confusion.

"How."

Regina's breath hitched and she searched Emma's eyes until she hissed in a whisper, "yes."

Emma let go of her towel and leaned in slowly brushing her lips to Regina until they were touching, remaining stock still for a long moment. Emma added a hint of pressure until she felt Regina relax. The towel slipped down her torso, crumpled around her hips.

She reached around Regina, never letting their kiss break and hugged her close. It was intimate and tender and entirely different than their previous encounter, but no less arousing. In fact, the veracity in which Emma felt herself get high from the simple kiss and touch made her dizzy.

With great self-control, Emma made sure that every move she made was done with deliberate care. She rubbed Regina's back up and down, reveling once again in wonder at how warm and solid she felt in her arms. Emma tilted her head and changed the angle of the kiss, she slid her tongue across Regina's bottom lip and sucked it slowly.

Regina broke away and let out a warm shallow breath of air which rushed against Emma's cheek. Emma kissed along her jawline, and under her ear, all the while pulling and pressing closer, and tighter. Letting them come together naturally and unhurried. She lowered her face to Regina's neck, pushing her back gently against the chair.

Regina's head rolled back and she closed her eyes tightly at the sensation of tickling nips and wet kisses along the delicate column of her throat and down to her chest. Emma continued across the ridge of her clavicle, mapping out each variation in the terrain of her body and memorizing the sweet flavor of her smooth skin.

She hummed out her pleasure letting the vibration echo against her chest. Emma needed to feel more skin against her own, and moved back just enough to reach down and find the bottom of Regina's shirt. Thanking whatever higher power that might be listening that Regina had decided to go casual on Sunday, Emma easily rolled the shirt up and over her head.

She wore a simple tan colored bra, and Emma was already reaching around the back to fumble with the clasped while pushing her whole face into her cleavage. She licked the tops of her breasts and burrowed against the softness.

The light keening noises Regina was making and the feel of her wondering hands over Emma's back: petting and stroking her skin with intent, made Emma's excitement spike.

In what she would consider to be a miracle, the bra clasp unhooked and the fabric parted releasing the tension. The garment slipped off of Regina's shoulders and was quickly swept away.

"I've wanted to make love to you like this…since forever," Emma confessed, in the same way she greeted a home cooked meal when she was starving: with abject want and utter gratitude.

Regina pushed on Emma's shoulders for leverage as she lifted her hips, while Emma hooked her fingers in her yoga pants and underwear, pulling them easily down her legs and off. Catching her breath, Emma told herself to slow down and appreciate this moment: they were both naked and both willing.

Regina was practically writhing with need. Her eyes were dark and half-lidded, and her lips were slightly parted as she her breath quickened. Emma couldn't hold back anymore. She'd waited so long already and the thrumming pulse of want running through her sex was livened further by the way Regina looked at her in a perfect marriage of reverence and animal like lust.

Lunging at her, Emma pulled Regina into a half lying down position, with her back still propped gently against the edge of the chaise. She slid herself off the couch and onto her knees in front of Regina. She brazenly bent down and pressed her lips against her lower belly, and nuzzled against her with a growl that had Regina gripping her arms and spreading like butter.

Emma took the invitation to lift Regina's left leg and hook it over her shoulder, opening her up even more. There was no hiding, all their feelings were on the table, and Emma was going to make Regina feel good no matter what.

She looked at Regina who looked exquisite perched on the precipice of anticipatory ecstasy. She was biting her own bottom lip and rolling her own nipples between her fingers; Emma grinned and dipped her head lower, pressing lips into the juncture of her thigh. She let her breath and warm, wet tongue lick a long path along her inner thigh.

Regina tensed a bit, and her throat produced a low rumbling sound. She switched sides and licked again, knowing that her teasing would leave Regina's mind unable to worry about anything, but when Emma was going to stick her tongue into her pussy. Emma kissed her labia, and hooked her hands under Regina's thighs to open her up as much as possible. She felt her calf muscle twitch against her back, Regina's other foot was grounded on the floor, her body all long elegant lines and soft curves.

Emma underestimated her responsiveness, the moment she dipped her tongue shallowly into her and her flavor burst onto her tongue, Regina bucked up in reflex, and then settled away, acting almost shy.

"Relax…" Emma whispered, "you're magnificent…let me…"

She used her lips to spread her open and brought one hand up to rest on her stomach to comfort and steady her. She could feel Regina's rapid pulse against her cheek as blood coursed through her femoral artery, and all the cues of Regina's arousal, cause Emma to shift on her knees and wiggle her hips to relieve the insistent need for pressure between her own legs.

Then Regina tightened her leg around Emma's head and she found herself abandoning her plans of prolonged teasing and going full throttle, and got carried away with her new plan of making Regina move and moan as much as humanly possible. She licked and sucked blindly, her chin and cheeks were coated and slippery.

She lapped at Regina's clit and then gave it a good swirl and a hearty suck. That earned her a full out scream. She was breathing as hard she could through her nose to keep up the sucking pressure and then on a whim she rammed her tongue into her, but she could tell Regina wanted more stimulation.

Freeing up her left hand she licked her fingers and carefully entered her, she wiggled against her sensitive opening and Regina rocked into it, drawing her in deeper. Emma felt Regina's fingers thread through her damp hair as steered her tongue back to her clit. All she could do was hold on for the ride as Regina circled her hips and rocked hard against her face, moaning about how sooo close she was to cumming, over and over in mantra.

Suddenly, Emma felt her strong thighs clamp over her ears and trap her moving fingers, and then she heard, albeit muffled, a man's voice yell, "Regina!"

It wasn't Henry, no…they had just had the talk about privacy, and this voice was deep and whiny. Emma wretched her head free from Regina's grip and looked up, stunned, toward the source of the noise. Robin was standing with his mouth hanging open in shock, staring at the women from the doorway.

"Get out of here!" Regina yelled, and then Emma switched her focus in time to see and feel Regina reach forward and yank on her hair. "Don't you dare stop now!"

Shaken, Emma automatically got back down to business, and floundered to get her mouth back in position, her fingers were stilled by the tight grip Regina's inner muscles had on her. She shuddered and felt stunned at the invasion from fucking Robin. Imagining what they must look like to him: both naked and moving in erotic tandem; Emma happily fucking Regina with her mouth and fingers as she chased her orgasm.

Serves the prick right, she thought, and Emma doubled down spurred on with a sense of pride, claiming Regina wholly as she felt her thighs trembled and body shake as her finally came all over her face.

She had inadvertently killed two birds with one orgasm. Robin got the hint that Regina didn't belong to him in any sense, and Emma must have been achieving her goal of making Regina forget about her worries based on her insistence to keep going even when interrupted.

Emma hadn't accounted for the sheer beauty and sense of fulfillment that seemed to fill her and lift her spirit, as Regina tugged her up to cover her body and kiss and her senseless. She hurriedly straddled Regina's sweat slicked thigh and bore down on her full force, humping her unabashedly and gritting her teeth as she sought her own long overdue release.

As she listened to Regina's words of erotic encouragement, Emma sped up her face and let the strong waves of pleasures overtake her. She locked eyes with Regina as she came undone and felt for the first time completely in the present.

No day, but today, indeed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: For Jamie, to brighten her very bad day.

Emma had needed that orgasm more than she thought, or at least pregnancy hormones combined with the scent, sound and feel of Regina beneath her was an incredibly intense combination. For a moment, during the last desperate seconds before she hit the edge and went off into a cataclysmic orgasm she was certain she had humped her soul right out of her body.

She could see herself riding Regina, her hands holding Emma's hips as she churned at a frantic pace. She held her breath and then just let everything out. She wondered, as she drifted boneless back to earth and solidity, where colors and smells lived, how this woman could cause her so much pleasure in tandem with the searing pain.

There were kisses and the light tongue of blunt fingernails running over her skin, and Regina was smiling a true smile as she reclined and relaxed. Emma took a deep breath, her belly quivered against Regina's and she heard Regina let out a hearty resplendent chuckle that bounced them both softly.

Emma licked her lips and really looked at just-past-fucked Regina. She looked young, fresh and easygoing. The fine laugh lines around her unyielding eyes were prominent when her lips were stretched into a rare grin. With her head leaning lazily against the back of the chaise, her chin was tucked adorably, and her neck was a prominent delectable long looking line.

Emma nuzzled her face against Regina's bare chest and pushed herself forward to lick a trail up her neck. She rested her lips at Regina's jawline and kissed her sweetly in the hollow where her jaw meets her neck: a known ticklish spot that caused Regina to gasp softly and give another musical throaty chuckle.

"Robin," Emma whispered plaintively. "I didn't see his face. Was he mad?"

Regina licked her lips and lowered her gaze to meet Emma's eyes, "I don't know if he was mad, but I was furious at his rude interruption."

Emma placated her features and bit her bottom lip, "Who does that?"

"Hmm?" Regina closed her eyes and rolled her neck from side to side, and Emma was once again enraptured with her beauty.

"The dude just barged into your bedroom," Emma shifted in Regina's lap, groaning as she finally lifted off of Regina's thigh completely. The position, while intimate and connected, was probably causing Regina some discomfort. A painful cramp or numb leg from Emma pinching off blood flow to a crucial artery with her thighs would most definitely kill the forgiving and lazy mood they have worked so hard to create with one another.

"He comes from the forest and is a thief by trade," Regina stated in a flat tone which left Emma confused. She had brought up the intrusion to get Regina's feelings on the matter, but she was never easily forthcoming.

"So you're saying he doesn't know what a closed door means?" Emma felt her blood pressure rising just thinking about him.

She twisted, careful not to knee Regina, and reached for the fleece blanket at the foot of the sofa to cover them both, their skin was cooling, the sweat from their lovemaking evaporating off and leaving them both slightly chilled. Emma rolled sideways to insert herself between Regina's side and the back of the couch as she pulled the blanket over their nude bodies.

"Perhaps he has a better understanding now," Regina resettled next to Emma and their bodies molded together under the comfort of the blanket. There was a long peaceful moment of silence. Their breathing evened out together.

Emma was drifting into the warmth of Regina's body enjoying her sweet lavender salt scent when she felt the touch of dry lips on her forehead and heard Regina whisper, "Thank you."

"For what?" Emma asked as she craned her neck and returned the simple gesture on Regina's cheek; they both blushed lightly.

"For the obvious and-," Regina took a deep breath, continuing to speak as she exhaled, "with Robin…"

"I wasn't going to stop," Emma admitted happily as she rolled her eyes and tucked the blanket under her chin. "Do you think we could repeat that performance for Hook? I think he might finally get the picture if he had a visual."

Regina didn't answer right away, and Emma looked up, worried she'd offended her somehow. Emma swallowed and realized she was a bit thirsty, but far too comfortable to move unless Regina decided to kick her out. This suddenly seemed to be a very real possibility as the moody woman's energy seemed to shift and change in the air.

Emma held her breath and waited for the other shoe to drop. When Regina spoke her voice was succulent and dangerous sounding, "I'm dying to taste you."

"Oh," Emma felt her sex begin to throb after a shiver of pure want ran up her spine at Regina's words.

She felt Regina's lips against her temple and grazing through her hair, and then she spoke again in that sex laden voice, "I have to confess something."

Emma held her breath as she felt a warm hand rake over the ribs, open palmed down her side and up over the swell of her hip before Regina repeated the journey back and forth: petting Emma provocatively.

"It's true, at first when I heard Robin and saw him in the doorway, I was reacted angrily, but when I looked down at you with your head and hands trapped between my thighs…face, fingers buried in me like, I saw what we looked like together, and imagined how he saw us. It was-do you know what I mean?"

"His perspective?" Emma was trying to focus, she really was, but she kept wondering if Regina realized what her roving hand was doing with each gentle pass up and down her side. She was slowly setting Emma on fire.

Emma sensed a subtle change in Regina's breathing pattern as she listened to her recall the recent memory. "The thought of him catching us, and seeing you doing that with me, it excited me. Robin's embarrassment and outrage, the way his eyes…absorbed us. I liked it…"

"You liked him watching us?"

"I liked the idea of him seeing what you can do to me, and how we are together," Regina finished, clearly struggling to process the exact feelings she was experiencing. Emma knew Regina was struggling with her perversions, and to be fair, she was expressing her feelings just as Emma had been hoping for, for far too long.

Regina's hand stilled on Emma's hip, and dipped in over the soft roundness of her stomach and farther down, coasting lower as Emma felt Regina push her over on her side. Regina was spooning her, with her head resting over Emma's shoulder.

"So you…uh-uh w-want me to go get him so he can watch again?" Emma stuttered through her attempt at humor as the pads of Regina's fingers found her wetness and slid slowly up and down, just like they had on her side, but now the movement was concentrated to a very sensitive and limited area. Emma thanked the gods for Regina's fine coordinated motor skills.

Regina was breathing through her mouth and practically panting against Emma's ear with a look of quiet focus and wonder in her eyes as she explored with her fingers. Flinching lightly as Regina grazed over Emma's clit, circling once and then retreating back down to gather more rapidly increasing wetness.

"Imagine the worthless pirate sitting right over there, watching me touch you like this…" Regina spoke slowly as if her mind was far away, and Emma couldn't help but visualize Hook sitting across the room and watching. Emma squirmed and Regina stilled her hand, "uh huh..I have another confession. I was out of my mind with jealousy when I imagined him fucking you."

"I told you him and me never…"

Regina gave her a slanted look that shushed her, "Imagine my relief, knowing that he hasn't had you in this way."

"I want you to touch me," Emma grabbed Regina's wrist in encouragement as she bent her knee. "Please? Not him…never him…just you…you…you."

Emma chanted it softly until she lost her breath and was taken off guard by Regina's sudden invasion of her pussy with her fingers.

She sucked her neck, adding to Emma's collection of fresh hickeys, and the pressure of lips tightly suctioned on her neck and heavy, rough feeling fingers between her legs caused Emma to gape and scream from the onslaught of sensations.

Regina was pushing and wiggling her hips, grinding herself against Emma's ass while keeping a tight hold around her ribs, just under her breasts. She pinched and rolled her nipple between her fingers and sparks of light burst behind Emma's eyes.

When she pulled her fingers out of Emma's cunt and started to rub to her clit in tight, fast circles, Emma tensed and gritted her teeth; it felt like too much pressure and too much pleasure all at once.

"Do you like having your clit rubbed like this?" Regina's voice was as rough as her fingers.

Emma thoughts were racing; she found Regina's question obvious. 'Who doesn't like having her clit rubbed? You can rub my clit all damned day…all day, every day, just like this,' but her response was garbled non-sense and moaned 'yeahs.'

Regina's loud labored breath in her ear added to Emma's excitement. She twisted her neck up in want of a kiss and a connection. Their mouths stayed inches apart as they breathed one another in and out until Regina bridged the gap between them and they kissed, open mouthed and wet.

Emma started to cum and it felt like her whole self was uncoiling, like she was sinking into a deep, hot bath. She felt her muscles jerk relentlessly as Regina held her close and watched her with delight until she finally stilled.

"Amazing," Emma licked her lips in contentment and fell back against Regina's chest, exhausted and feeling hungry. Regina continued to kiss her shoulders and neck, and pet her hair until they both fell asleep.

….

When Emma's rumbling stomach forced her from her cocoon of comfort forty-five minutes later. She untangled herself from Regina, and she woke up, but didn't follow Emma as she rose from the couch.

Grumpy and thirsty she tripped over Regina's discarded clothes and crossed the room to pull a robe out of the closet and slip into. She tied it around her waist as Regina stretched her arms and yawned like a sexy cat.

Emma took a long look at her, "Need anything from the kitchen?"

"Water," Regina said as she rolled over and twisted up in the fleece. Emma skipped down the stairs thinking about the wonders and hopes of Mother's day. At the landing, she heard an unmistakable voice coming from the kitchen.

"Henry, does the savior sleep over often?"

It was fucking Robin Hood.

Whatever tension had been fucked out of Emma sucked back in at the mere sound of his voice. She peeked around the wall and saw the man seated at the kitchen table across from Henry. His face was red, and his mouth was hanging agape.

"Mom's moving in." Emma listened to Henry's flat responses, and smiled. Even though she specifically told him she hadn't decided if she was actually moving in, she was glad he responded that way. She could tell the kid didn't like the guy either.

"And you're happy about that?" Robin asked in disbelief. Emma bit her tongue; she couldn't believe the forest freak was interrogating her son about her in Regina's own kitchen without permission. He sure hadn't learned his lesson about his barging ways.

She didn't want to make her presence known, but she grew even more irate when she smelled the air and saw that Robin was eating the meal Regina was making for Henry and her for mother's day dinner.

No one disrespected Regina or her cooking, Emma thought as she stepped out from behind the wall and into the dining room.

"Henry, hey, kid. Go upstairs please."

"Mom, you're up!"

"Yep," Emma popped the 'P' and stared at Robin as Henry, for once, obeyed her.

She kept her eyes on Robin and watched him regard her strangely. He took in her appearance: clearly sexed, covered in hickeys, wearing zilch under Regina's robe.

She could see the rusty wheels turning in Robin's poor confused head. It was clear he was replaying the scene he had walked in on earlier. Emma rapped her fingers on the wood table, and as she engaged in an awkward staring contest she silently judged him and wondered again what the hell Regina ever saw in this guy.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: For Jamie- happy birthday!

Emma kept her eyes focused on Robin, who was sitting at the table like a turd on a log, but watched as Henry scrambled from his seat. He grabbed his juice and gave Emma a look as he made a hasty retreat. At least the kid had the good sense to run as Emma was gearing up for a full on confrontation.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with a tone of nonchalance as she left the doorway and walked directly up to Robin. She kept her gaze focused on him, mild disgust etched in her features as she watched his cheeks fill with food as she chewed open mouthed.

"I was just chatting with Henry," Robin replied and his voice dripped with entitlement. Emma felt her cool slipping away as she grew angrier. He shoveled another heaping spoonful of food into his gaping mouth hole.

"I don't think you were invited for dinner, so you should put that fork down and leave. Now," Emma crossed her arms and stepped closer. Letting her body language show the claim she had in Regina's house. This guy was simply the worst.

She belonged here.

Her son lived here and soon, she and Regina's new child would live here too. Emma reminded herself she was a part of that. A big part and nothing was going to take her baby away- not this time.

Robin narrowed his eyes defiantly and angrily scooped up another forkful of mashed potatoes. What a piggy. He chewed in the most annoying way possible, as Emma grew nauseous at the sight. It wasn't just his poor table manners she abhorred. She felt possessive of Regina, and she wanted to be the only one who was allowed at her table.

And in her bed.

Regina insisted she and Robin weren't sleeping together- that they hadn't, but Emma was positive Robin wanted much more than a friendship, even though he had a wife.

"Regina and I are soulmates, we're fated to be together, and I will always be in her life," Robin turned up his nose as Emma rolled back her shoulders. With satisfaction, Emma witnessed the man swallow hard as he glimpsed the bright red love marks that polka dotted Emma's neck. Yet another sign that Regina claimed her too.

Robin and Regina may be "soulmates" but that meant nothing to Emma. Robin was filled with empty words and thoughts. Emma vowed to live by her actions and not make promises she couldn't keep. Even if she decided to move in with Regina and Henry so they could raise the baby together, she not only would commit to being there and with Regina, but she planned to show her family how much they were loved every day.

She'd live it, breathe it and be it. Emma wanted nothing more than just that. She also really wanted Robin freaking Hood to listen to her and leave before Regina got curious and came down stairs. Emma hated the way she looked at him and she certainly didn't want to be privy to another round of their interactions. Ever.

She wasn't sure what Robin wanted- but Emma suspected based on the way he was shoveling food in, and the dirty way he often looked at Regina -that food and sex were pretty much all that was on his mind. While Emma did love a well-cooked meal, and she couldn't deny she'd wanted intimacy and sex with Regina for as long as she could remember, she also wanted much more.

"I'm not going to argue about who Regina is closest too and who she wants in her life," Emma crossed the room, and went about getting the woman in question a glass of ice water. "You're making this harder, you know. If you really cared about her you'd stay away. Go live your life in the forest with the family you already have."

Robin slammed his hand down on the table, making his plate jump. He flushed in anger. "Don't talk to me about family. As I've been told: you know nothing about family."

There is always a breaking point and that final hate filled accusation was Emma's. Years of buried loneliness, isolation and rejection welled up within her like a whirlwind. She fought back tears, as Robin stared at her with a blank, dumb look on his face.

She felt sickened that he had hit the nail on the head when it came to pushing her buttons. She had been so hopeful and he had crushed it so quickly. Emma feared most that her tenuous home here- so fragile and new- much like her unborn baby, was going to crumble just as easily as Robin had crumbled her emotions.

She tried to remember that this wasn't about her. Robin shouldn't be her problem and the stress was bad for the baby. She just wanted the man gone once and for all. She also really wanted to punch the fucktard right in the mouth.

So Emma said it out loud, she knew she shouldn't, but he had his chance to leave so whatever happened was on him.

"All this stress is bad for the baby, you really need to go or I will make you go."

"Baby?" Robin looked around the room like there was an infant hiding under the table or in the pantry that he just now had become aware of. "I don't know what you mean?"

Emma sighed then, the wind leaving her sails. She had no desire to explain the whole convoluted thing to Robin. It was best if he didn't know all of the details. She shouldn't have said anything at all. She wanted to hurt him.

The wheels were still spinning in his very slow to react brain, "But...I haven't been with Regina….but…she said she couldn't… how could she be with child?"

"She's not," Emma shut that idea down before it had chance to fully take hold in his head. Now let him wrap around this idea, "But she is going to be a mother."

"I don't see…she's going to adopt again?" Robin just couldn't work it out. The very idea that Emma was the one pregnant didn't even cross his mind.

Not for the first time in a very short conversation she spelled it out, "I'm pregnant, you dumbfuck. Regina is gonna be the other mother, understand? Like how Henry is our son."

Robin stood up at that announcement. The kitchen chair skidded across the hardwood making a noise that caused Emma to shudder.

"Congratulations," he spat the word and finally, finally marched out of the house. He slammed the door so forcefully that a picture fell off the wall in the foyer. Regina was going to be pissed that his boots tracked mud across her floors, but Emma was happy he was finally gone. Hopefully, he wouldn't come waltzing back in again, but that was clearly too much ask for. He'd be back like a fungal rash.

She picked up the fallen photo and looked at the cracked glass streaking through their faces. It was a picture from last fall. Emma remembered Henry's first day of school well. Both of his mother's flanked on each side of him in his uniform, and all three smiling brightly. The caption on the frame read: "Make today so awesome that yesterday gets jealous."

What a wonderful inspiration.

Emma calmly walked upstairs. It was probably not the right course of action, but she had to do what she had to do without resorting to physical violence. Regina was standing at the top of the stairs. She was dressed and her face was red and streaked with tears.

"I heard," she said flatly, looking into Emma's eyes and taking the glass of water with a soft nod. "Henry heard, too. Thanks for that."

Shit, Emma thought as she worried her lip and brought a palm up to smooth away her flyaway hairs, leaving her hand on her forehead while she thought about what needed to be done next. "Kid, you can come out, we all know what's going on."

Henry emerged shyly from his room and took in the sight of both of his mothers. They all were just standing there at the top of the stairs. "Robin is a jerk, Mom, you shouldn't talk to him anymore."

Regina nodded at that, understanding the message loud and clear. "Henry, it's complicated."

"No it's not," he maintained stubbornly. "I just wanted to have a nice Mother's day for you both. Can't we do that? Have dinner and play games and stop worrying about everything else for a change?"

"Kid, come on, don't be all adamant today. Give it a rest…" Emma had felt pumped up a moment earlier, but knowing Regina was upset, and now Henry was griping left her feeling drained.

"What's wrong?" Regina squinted at her and Emma turned her face away. They were finally on good terms again; things weren't going to fall apart as long as Regina and Emma were a united front. She had to continually remind her self of this because believing something would make it true, and she wanted to be strong for Regina and help her understand, and process her guilt and work through her shame. They both had enough of that to deal with without everything else added into the mix.

"Hormones…" she murmured, and could almost feel Regina rolling her eyes in annoyance. She couldn't blame every feeling and outburst she had on the pregnancy. That wasn't fair to anyone. Emma had no right to be upset with Regina when she dealt with a lovesick Hook showing up in her driveway, and she had also handled Emma's parents. Regina should get kudos, not attitude from Emma.

"Let's see if there's any dinner left after that son of a-," Emma cut herself off, when she saw Regina's warning glance. Right, she was trying to play nice and enjoy Mother's Day. "Dinner…I'm hungry."

She amended her statement and earned a small smile from Regina who was took another drink of her water and floated away down the stairs. Henry sighed heavily and followed after his mother. Emma watched them both descend the steps and before she followed, she smoothed her hand across her belly, hardly believing it was possible, but at the same time hoping that they were closer than she imagined.

Would they ever really be a family?


End file.
